PROGRESSIVE GOVERNANCE: California DMV Calls Uber’s Autonomous Autos ‘Illegal’

The car-hailing firm on Wednesday said San Francisco residents could now hail a handful of autonomous vehicles within city limits, expanding a test that began three months ago in Pittsburgh.

Later in the day, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles told Uber it was operating autonomous vehicles without a necessary permit and could face legal action unless it takes the autos off the road. Uber executives say they believed a permit wasn’t required since the retrofitted sport-utility vehicles are manned by a driver and engineer in the front seats and therefore aren’t fully autonomous.

Uber has forgotten that in forward-looking California, nearly everything not mandatory is forbidden. There’s a wedge issue here the incoming Trump Administration could use to cleave Silicon Valley from the Democrats.