Mayor Ted Wheeler Wants Driverless Cars in Portland by Year's End

Wheeler announced Portland is "open for business" and seeking to be a testing site for autonomous vehicles.

Google self-driving car (smoothgroover22 / Flickr)

By Rachel Monahan

Mayor Ted Wheeler announced his interest in welcoming driverless cars to Portland by the end of the year.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation will begin soliciting interest from companies to test their autonomous vehicles in Portland, the mayor and Commissioner Dan Saltzman announced at a Portland Business Alliance breakfast.

"My goal is to have an autonomous vehicle pilot program in Portland, working for Portlanders, by the end of the year," says Wheeler in a statement. "To the inventors, investors and innovators, I'm here to say that Portland is open for business."

Wheeler had the backing of the Portland Business Alliance during the campaign, and last fall announced that he'd successfully recruited a division of Columbia Sportswear back from the suburbs.

The full Portland Bureau of Transportation announcement is below:

 

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