Mysterious Startup Aurora Innovation Granted Self-Driving-Car Test Permit in California

Secretive startup called Aurora Innovation is the latest entity to receive an autonomous car testing permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Aurora is the 37th organization to receive one of these permits, according to Fortune. The startup joins automakers like Ford, Tesla, Honda, and General Motors, tech companies like Uber, Waymo, and Apple, as well as Chinese automaker SAIC, which doesn’t actually sell cars in the United States at the moment.

But Aurora is much smaller than these companies, and has kept a low profile so far. It’s led by Sterling Anderson, the former director of Tesla’s Autopilot program, and Chris Urmson, the former head of Google’s self-driving car project. Also onboard is Drew Bagnell, who previously ran the autonomy and perception team at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center.