NextEV and Telenav get Californian license for testing autonomous cars

With the well-financed Chinese electric vehicle startup NextEV and the Santa Clara based mapping and global positioning company Telenav two more companies received licenses for testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in California. This brings the total number of companies with test licenses issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles to nineteen.

NextEV, founded in 2014 in Shanghai in China, has raised in two rounds 500 million Dollars, according to Crunchbase. Telenav was founded in 1999 and employs nearly 600 people in six countries.

California has established itself as a hotbed for testing autonomous vehicles with the DMV giving clear guidelines and requirements for testing as well as offering multiple testing locations. Governor Jerry Brown also has recently signed a bill that allows testing autonomous vehicles in restricted public areas that would not require drivers anymore. In total it is estimated that close to 100 autonomous cars are being tested on public roads in California, with Google alone counting for 58.

With October 21st, 2016 the following 19 companies have a DMV of California test permit:

• Volkswagen Group of America
• Mercedes Benz
• Google
• Delphi Automotive
• Tesla Motors
• Bosch
• Nissan
• GM Cruise LLC
• BMW
• Honda
• Ford
• Zoox, Inc.
• Drive.ai, Inc.
• Faraday & Future Inc.
• Baidu USA LLC
• Wheego Electric Cars Inc.
• Valeo North America, Inc.
• NextEV USA, Inc.
• Telenav