After years spent wandering the streets of California, Google's autonomous cars are heading out to Texas to undergo further research.
A self-driving Lexus RX 450h SUV has already arrived at the company's testing location just north of downtown Austin. The new locale presents an opportunity for Google to test its software in different traffic patterns and road conditions.
A number of states have set up regulations for self-driving cars, but Texas isn't one of them. A bill that would have set up basic safety requirements for autonomous cars failed to pass in the state recently. Although Google didn't need special permission before testing the vehicles in Austin, the tech company is making a number of safety preparations of its own. For now, the cars will not drive autonomously on area highways, and two "safety" drivers will always sit behind the wheel.
So far, Google's autonomous cars have logged over a million miles, primarily near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Recently, autonomous cars have come under heavy scrutiny amid a number of reported accidents. In each of six separate collisions, however, prototype cars were deemed not at fault when they were operating in autonomous mode. Google says it will include any accidents that occur in Austin in its new monthly reports.
This article originally appeared on MSN.
