(Bloomberg) -- Uber Technologies Inc. continues to dive head first into autonomous vehicles. Just don't call them that in California.

Starting Wednesday, Uber will let customers in San Francisco hop in a self-driving car, if they're lucky enough to hail one. There's a lot the company won't say about the launch, like how many cars they plan to roll out, but it will gradually introduce self-driving Volvos in its hometown.

The seven-year-old startup doesn't have explicit permission from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to test autonomous cars on the road. The company has quietly had self-driving cars roaming the streets of San Francisco for at least a few weeks without making it public, potentially violating the DMV's mandate. Uber said it has shared its perspective that its cars don't qualify as autonomous with the DMV.