Autonomous vehicles under testing permits have collectively covered over four million miles on California’s public roads from Dec.1, 2023, to Nov. 30, 2024, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced recently.

This year’s total, standing at 4,498,066 miles, includes 3,945,171 miles with a safety driver and 552,895 miles in fully autonomous mode. This represents a significant decrease from the over nine million miles reported in the previous period.

The annual disengagement reports, detailing instances where human drivers had to take over control due to technology failures or safety concerns, are now available. These reports also outline the testing circumstances, locations and the specific conditions under which disengagements occurred. They are intended to provide insights into the operational activities of each permit holder and are not designed for comparative analysis across different companies.

Of the companies with testing permits, 20 did not conduct any public road testing this period. Additionally, nine companies, while submitting reports for the 2023-2024 reporting period, have ceased testing and withdrawn from the program.

Under state regulations, companies are only required to report public road testing. Activities on private roads or out-of-state, as well as any testing below Society of Automotive Engineers Level 3 or in simulation, are not covered in these reports.

Currently, 31 companies hold permits for testing with a safety driver, six are approved for driverless testing and three are authorized to make autonomous technology commercially available outside of a testing program. All required annual reports were submitted by the Jan. 1 deadline.