Mountain View, CA-based startup Nuro today announced a significant expansion of its SAE Level 4 driverless capabilities using zero-occupant vehicles powered by the AI-enabled Nuro Driver. Covering multiple cities in two states and encompassing significant operational advancements, the company says the expansion solidifies its position as one of the most advanced autonomous vehicle technology providers in the U.S. with one of the largest L4 deployments in the country.

The expanded deployments are in Mountain View and Palo Alto, CA, with an 83% increase in deployment linear miles, and Houston, TX, with a 70% increase in deployment linear miles. Upgrades to its operational design domain involve significant technological advancements include multi-lane road operation at speeds up to 35 mph (56 km/h); improvements related to complex scenario handling such as reacting to active emergency vehicles, navigating construction zones, and responding to active school buses; and greatly expanded night operation service availability.

With the expanded deployments, Nuro says it is ready to provide the foundational technology for transporting both people and goods, and it is one of only a handful of companies worldwide able to deploy its technology in a driverless capacity at the scale of an entire city. Its system now covers a significant portion of everyday driving conditions.

“Since publicly unveiling our new direction a little over a month ago, we have seen tremendous interest in our AI-driven autonomy platform from automotive OEMs and mobility companies,” said Jiajun Zhu, Co-founder and CEO of Nuro. “Our latest driverless deployment demonstrates the maturity and capability of our AI platform, and we’re excited for potential partners to capitalize on the performance, safety, and sophistication of the Nuro Driver to build their own incredible autonomy products.”

The company’s fleet has logged more than one million autonomous miles with zero autonomous at-fault incidents. Its autonomous system is designed with cost-effective, automotive-grade components, the approach ensuring that its technology is not only highly capable but also practical for large-scale deployment across various vehicle types and use cases.

Nuro execs believe the expanded L4 driverless deployment, coupled with its recently announced business model of licensing its platform, position the company at the forefront of the autonomous vehicle industry, from personally owned vehicles to large-scale mobility platforms.

For the last eight years, the company has been hard at work drawing from and expanding upon cutting-edge research to build groundbreaking physical AI that will transform our physical lives, said Dave Ferguson, Co-founder & President of Nuro. The company began with “a massive opportunity” of last-mile delivery and in the process built a fully autonomous AI driver, which it is now applying to personal transportation.

“It can do a lot more than delivery,” he said. “To get there we’re partnering with auto and mobility companies to safely bring our tech to personal vehicles, ride-hailing services, and commercial fleets. And lots of them, so that we can help save hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of tons of emissions, and billions of hours of our time—and to make the best of life the moments that make life magical and more accessible to every single person.”