A program piloting self-driving vehicles around Texas, starting at closed facilities but one day moving to busy streets, will join nine others as the first proving grounds in the U.S. for autonomous vehicles.

U.S. Department of Transportation officials made the announcement late last week, among a dash of decisions in the last days of the Obama Administration before federal offices handed power to Donald Trump and his cabinet.

The proving grounds are a significant step in helping develop cars and trucks that can safely travel on American roads, including setting the standards for what regulations will oversee vehicles moving autonomously.

“This group will openly share best practices for the safe conduct of testing and operations as they are developed, enabling the participants and the general public to learn at a faster rate and accelerating the pace of safe deployment,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Thursday.

Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao is poised to take over the transportation department, pending Senate confirmation, expected Tuesday.

Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Transportation Research and Southwest Research Institute are leading the proving ground project, with assistance from state and local officials. The first step is likely to occur in controlled settings, such as A&M’s RELLIS campus near College Station.

Eventually, however, autonomous vehicles are likely to land in the lane next to many Texas drivers. Project officials identified the Texas Medical Center, high occupancy vehicle lanes maintained by Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Port of Houston in the Houston area as potential live testing locations.

Texas A&M and the Texas Department of Transportation, meanwhile, are finalizing an agreement that allows researchers to test connected vehicle technologies — systems that allow vehicles and traffic control devices to communicate with one another — and autonomous vehicles on Texas roadways.

Under terms of the proving ground program overseen by federal officials, the proving grounds will be operational by Jan. 1, 2018.

In addition to Texas, proving ground concepts in Pittsburgh, California, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Maryland, Wisconsin and Iowa were chosen.