General Motors plans to test vehicles in fully autonomous mode in New York state in early 2018, according to governor Andrew Cuomo.

The planned testing by GM and its self-driving unit, Cruise Automation, will be the first by a Level 4 autonomous vehicle in the state, Cuomo said in a statement cited by Reuters.

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A level 3 car still needs a steering wheel and a driver who can take over if the car encounters a problem, while level 4 promises driverless features in dedicated lanes.

A level 5 vehicle is capable of navigating roads without any driver input and in its purest form would have no steering wheel or brakes.

GM and Cruise Automation will begin conducting tests in Manhattan with an engineer in the driver's seat to monitor the performance, and a second person in the passenger seat, the statement said.

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