Zoox has been offering free rides in its autonomous pods, which lack a steering wheel and pedals. Under the new temporary exemption, Zoox will be able to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles annually for two years. Cruise, the now-defunct autonomous vehicle startup owned by General Motors, sought an exemption for its Origin shuttle but never received it. For more info, read our Privacy PolicyNHTSA made a handful of other announcements around autonomous vehicles on Thursday. And, alongside the SAE Industry Technologies Consortia, it is funding a three-year consortium that will work on unified national standards for autonomous vehicle performance and safety.