Sacramento Leaders Pave the Way for Autonomous Vehicles in Sacramento

Set against a backdrop of antique cars and a Delorean time machine from Back to the Future at the California Automobile Museum, a group Sacramento government officials and business & technologies leaders announced today a new coalition with a mission of bringing autonomous vehicle testing to the city. The coalition is inviting all autonomous vehicle manufacturers and the industries that support them to use Sacramento as its open-source platform for level 5 autonomous vehicles (see below for defintion).

Just two days into his term, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, in a show of his commitment to innovation, joined Rep. Doris Matsui, California Senator Dr. Richard Pan, CEO of VSP Global, Jim McGrann, and Sacramento technology business leader Oleg Kaganovich to announce their initiative to make Sacramento the autonomous vehicle capital.

“Two days ago, I stood at the California Railroad Museum and declared that we will make Sacramento an industry center for renewable energy, alternative fuels, and electric and autonomous vehicles,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg. “Today, Sacramento’s elected officials from every level of government are standing here to prove our commitment to making Sacramento a demonstration city for exciting new technologies like driverless vehicles.”

Congresswoman Matsui echoed that commitment. “Sacramento is ready to be a testbed for innovation. Fully driverless cars may have seemed more like science fiction than reality just a few years ago, but today, Sacramento is ready to become a trailblazer in deploying and testing this transformative technology,” said Congresswoman Matsui. “The partnership we are announcing today lays the groundwork for Sacramento’s leadership in transportation solutions of the future. We have a unique opportunity to collaborate with the private sector to spur innovation and expand mobility for everyone.”

“I will work to make sure the state is a good partner by facilitating the implementations of new technologies that will launch Sacramento forward, ” said Dr. Richard Pan. “This is exactly what Sacramento 3.0 is about.

Sharing his vision of Sacramento’s leadership in autonomous vehicles standards, Oleg Kaganovich stated, “Other cities will ask, have you met the Sacramento protocol?”

In its event press release the City of Sacramento states that Sacramento needs to bring together the top minds and experience in the field of autonomous vehicles. “We want to invite these leaders to gorm a consortium to outline the goals, timeline, and build a project plan to support a directive of this magnitude including identification of key stakeholders, leaders, collaborators, supporters, and partners.”

Is your company interested in testing driverless technology in Sacramento? The City of Sacramento wants to help. Apply to join.

Proposed Test Area for Sacramento Autonomous Vehicle Testing

Levels of Driving Automation

0 – No Automation

1 – Driver Assistance

2- Partial Automation

3- Conditional Automation

4- High Automation

5- Full Automation