Driverless cars may soon be navigating the Arlington streets.

Arlington is one of several Texas cities to be designated a "national Automated Vehicle Proving Ground" by the U.S. Department of Transportation, which is set to launch in January 2018.

TxDOT, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the University of Texas at Austin's Center of Transportation Research, along with a number of other partners, will collaborate to give the automated vehicles real-world environments to test and further develop guidelines and technology, according to a statement from Texas A&M University.

The Texas partnership is one of 10 proposals selected from more than 60 applicants nationwide.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, testing will take place around the UT-Arlington campus, Arlington streets, the Interstate 30 corridor and managed lanes.

Locations in the Austin, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso areas will also be used.

"Texas offers a full and varied range of testing environments, from high-speed barrier-separated managed lanes to low-speed urban environments such as university campuses, medical districts, transit bus corridors and border crossings," the A&M statement said.

Some of the testing will take place at the A&M System's RELLIS Campus, the former home of a military air base in Bryan that was revamped last year to focus on new technology including driverless and connected cars, robotics and smart power grids.

"With five of the nation's 15 fastest-growing cities in Texas and our population expected to potentially double by the year 2050, Texas must be a leader in new technology that addresses transportation challenges," said Marc Williams, TxDOT deputy executive director, in the prepared statement. "This partnership puts Texas at the forefront of automated vehicle technologies that likely will shape the future of transportation around the world."