Waymo LLC has obtained a license from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test its fully driverless cars in the state, the first company to be granted a license to do so.

The DMV permit allows the company, previously known as Google LLC’s self-driving car project, to test a maximum of 40 vehicles of California roads day and night on any type of road with a speed limit of up to 65 miles per hour.

Despite the statewide license, the vehicles won’t be turning up in surprising locations. Waymo said it will initially restrict its robot cars to Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Palo Alto, all Silicon Valley locations near its head office.

For safety purposes, the vehicles have a back-to-base emergency feature. Where a vehicle comes across a situation it doesn’t understand, it has been programmed to come to a stop until it does, including contacting Waymo support for human intervention if required.

“Our vehicles can safely handle fog and light rain, and testing in those conditions is included in our permit,” Waymo explained on Medium today. “We will gradually begin driverless testing on city streets in a limited territory and, over time, expand the area that we drive in as we gain confidence and experience to expand.”

Waymo may be confident in its vehicles, but a report in August suggested that the robot cars were having problems turning around corners. The report claimed that the primary issue was with the vehicles turning left, including merging into heavy traffic as well as identifying traffic signals. There were also reports of the vehicles hesitating when turning right, annoying other motorists.

Possible teething issues aside, Waymo is confident in moving forward, and deploying the vehicles to the streets of Silicon Valley is a step in the right direction.

Initially, the testing will be with only Waymo employees in the vehicles. As with its trial service in Phoenix, Arizona, Waymo intends to eventually turn it into a ride-hailing trial before ultimately delivering on a robot car service that will compete head-on with the likes of Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.

Photo: Waymo