The timeline was revealed Wednesday, when the state Department of Motor Vehicles proposed a new set of streamlined regulations along with a 15-day public comment period.

The regulations are expected to be set by the end of the year and approved by the DMV early next year. The department had not previously set a date, approximate or otherwise, for the deployment of fully autonomous cars. The go date could be sooner than June, depending on how fast the rules are approved, the DMV said.

California’s existing rules about testing driverless cars, which require a human driver behind the wheel even when fully autonomous cars are being tested, have been criticized by industry leaders and some politicians as too strict. States with softer regulations, critics said, were attracting companies for driverless testing and putting California’s reputation as the nation’s technology innovation leader at risk.

Read the full article on the Los Angeles Times website.