Nuro makes its AV safety case

For David Estrada, the lightbulb moment came years ago while he worked as a member of Google's self-driving car project.

In an event met with much fanfare, the company showcased how a visually impaired man could use a self-driving car to conduct a series of daily errands he'd otherwise be unable to complete.

For Google and others, the feat promised future independence for millions who have physical restrictions.

Estrada, now the chief legal and policy officer at Nuro, emerged with a different takeaway.

"What we envision as the purpose for a self-driving car is taking someone to conduct errands," he said.

"The question is, is that really how we should be using our time? Would it be safer for everyone, including ourselves, if instead of hopping in the car and racing across town to run errands, we have an autonomous vehicle do much of that for us?"

That's the use case Nuro envisions for its custom-built delivery vehicles — and it's a use case that has resonated with a key regulatory agency.

In a landmark decision this month, NHTSA granted the company an exemption from certain federal motor vehicle safety standards. The exemption allows Nuro to deploy as many as 5,000 of its R2 delivery vehicles, which do not have otherwise-mandated features such as backup cameras, windshields or side-view mirrors.

That a vehicle with no human occupants aboard wouldn't need such equipment seems like common sense. But it's been a 16-month process to convince NHTSA the vehicles wouldn't be any more dangerous than other cars on the road.

To the contrary, one of the reasons Nuro received the first exemption may be that it presented the possibility its vehicles may actually enhance overall safety.

"When most companies discuss it, they talk about, 'This is going to keep people safer because autonomous technology actually drives better than we humans do,' " Estrada said on the Shift podcast. "Well, that's true. But it's even more safe to not get in the car in the first place."

With the exemption in hand, the R2 will be deployed within weeks in Houston, which the company has chosen as its first key market. The vehicles will make deliveries in conjunction with partners such as Kroger, Walmart and Domino's Pizza.

Houston "really has a lot of variety in terms of what the topography is like, what the streets are like," Estrada said. "We chose a city that we can really learn how well we can service various, different types of neighborhoods. And then we'll take it from there."