San Jose Launching a Self-Driving Car Program in 2019

"[San Jose] announced it has signed an agreement to launch an autonomous vehicle pilot project with Mercedes-Benz and Bosch," reports Emily Drury.

"The project is expected to kick off in the second half of 2019 as an on-demand ride hailing service," adds Drury.

The project still lacks specific like "who will be allowed to hail rides and where exactly the cars can go," but the project is likely to limit the range of vehicles in the hopes of broadening the scale further down the road.

Meanwhile the partnership between the city and the companies is expected to be mutually beneficial. "The companies will be able to tap into the city’s interconnected traffic signal system, which will let them time trips better. And the city will gain access to data about traffic congestion and vehicle speed," according to Drury.