Could Sacramento become a test bed for autonomous vehicles? The region's innovation hub is exploring avenues to become a bigger part of the emerging industry.
Jan Roos, a local attorney and entrepreneur who is the co-founder of the soon-to-open I/O Labs innovation space in downtown Sacramento, told a legislative panel on Wednesday that there's interest in developing a platform that would allow the city of Sacramento to be utilized as a testing ground for driverless cars and other new technology.
"We are at the early stages of that concept, but we're already communicating and striking partnerships with international entities, specifically in Normandy, France — we are looking at piloting new technologies and collaborating internationally with them on these types of programs," Roos said.
Roos is among those working to restart and recharge the Sacramento region's state designated innovation hub (iHub), as Techwire reported last week.
The Sacramento region already has seen some activity in the autonomous vehicle space. In March, a driverless shuttle was tested at California State University, Sacramento. And earlier this year the city of Sacramento and Regional Transit jointly submitted an application for a federal grant that would enable driverless cars to be added to Sacramento's public transportation network. The autonomous vehicles would potentially be stationed at light rail stations to shuttle passengers to their final destination.
During the Wednesday's oversight hearing on the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), Assemblymember Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park, asked how the state of California could help address safety concerns surrounding driverless cars.
Louis Stewart, GO-Biz deputy director of innovation and entrepreneurship, responded by saying California should assert its leadership nationally and globally on the issue. The first known fatality associated with autonomous vehicles — a driver was killed in Florida in June — has caused the industry to "double-down" on safety and the development of sensors and lane sensing technology, Stewart said.
