The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in California has issued a permit to ride-hailing firm Uber to test self-driving cars on public roads.
The decision by the California DMV to issue a permit to Uber comes almost two years after one of its self-driving cars was involved in a fatal crash in Arizona. Following the incident, the company decided to scale back on its self-driving operations.
Prior to the crash, Uber was testing its self-driving cars in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.
The state's issuance of a permit to Uber, along with 65 other transport firms, marks the latest step in the firm's revival of the program. In California, companies are permitted to test self-driving technology as long as a backup driver is in the car.
While it hasn't specified a timeline for resuming the tests, Uber has expressed plans to do some in San Francisco, where it is based. In a statement, the company said: "We do not have an update as to exactly when we'll resume autonomous testing."
"Receiving our testing permit through the California Department of Motor Vehicles is a critical step towards that end in Uber's home city," it added.
In March 2018, Uber was forced to halt testing on public roads after one of its self-driving vehicles crashed in Arizona, resulting to the death of Elaine Herzberg, aged 49. Herzberg was crossing a poorly lit multi-lane road with her bicycle when she was hit by a Volvo XC90 using Uber's self-driving technology.
Investigators found that the car's backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez, did not have her eyes on the road moments before and was streaming a television show on her phone.
According to the US National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB), the vehicle failed to  correctly identify the bicycle as an imminent collision until just before the crash but by that time, it was too late for it to avoid the accident.
NSTB said: "The system design did not include a consideration for jaywalking pedestrians."
In 2019, prosecutors ruled that Uber was not criminally liable for the crash and that an earlier police report determined that the incident was "entirely avoidable".
