NuTonomy to test self-driving cars in Boston

NuTonomy to test self-driving cars in Boston

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The City of Boston is moving forward with plans to study driverless cars, launching a program with a startup spun out of MIT to begin testing on public roads by the end of the year.

City Hall is working with Cambridge-based nuTonomy Inc. to put a self-driving car through its paces on the streets of the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in South Boston. The park offers about three miles of roadways in a contained space that is nonetheless open to the public and will require the car to navigate amid pedestrians, cars, bikes, and the MBTA’s Silver Line.

“It’s a similar road network to what you would see in a lot of places, though there are no traffic lights and the volume of traffic is a little bit less,” said Kris Carter, who cochairs the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics. “But there are still really interesting challenges.”

The program will require a licensed driver to sit in the driver’s seat to take control of the vehicle as needed. The car must also be clearly labeled as a testing vehicle.

The testing area could expand to other public roadways depending on how things go in the park area, Carter said. NuTonomy, which is already testing self-driving cars overseas, may also add more vehicles to the program over time.

Despite its status as a hotbed for robotics, Boston had been at risk of falling behind with the potentially transformative technology as other cities launched testing programs. 

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NuTonomy that makes vehicles, says it will start testing its self-driving cars on public streets in Boston by the end of the year. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company said this will be its first test on public roads in a U.S. city.

 It has previously conducted extensive testing in closed courses in the U.S. It also was the first company to start autonomous taxi service in Singapore, which began earlier this year.

NuTonomy will begin testing its self-driving Renault Zoe electric vehicle before the end of the year in the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in the Seaport section of the city.

The company said it outfits its vehicles with a state-of-the art software system to enable safe operation without a driver.


The City of Boston plans to monitor the effects of autonomous vehicles and identify how they might further the safety, access, and sustainability goals of its broader transportation plan. Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said in a statement that the test is an "exciting step forward."


Numerous automobile companies have tested such vehicles on public roads in California and Nevada. Google has been testing for years in California and Uber is testing driverless cars in Pittsburgh, but this will be a first for Massachusetts.

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