LOS ANGELES — The ubiquitous Ferraris, Bentleys and Lamborghinis of Beverly Hills may soon be sharing the road with a new form of auto exotica: robot cars.

City leaders plan to put a robot fleet of mass transit vehicles on its roads as soon as it’s practical, aiming to make the wealthy little city of 34,000 a world leader in the early deployment of driverless vehicles.

“The potential of autonomous vehicles is enormous, not just for Beverly Hills, but for the entire region,” Mayor John Mirisch said.

Right now the robot fleet is more of an idea than a fully laid-out plan. But the city has taken a series of early steps, and sees itself as perfect proving ground for autonomous public transit: 5.7 square miles, a low-density population, well-marked and well-maintained streets unblemished by potholes.

The City Council in April adopted a resolution supporting driverless vehicles for public transit. The planning and information technology departments are actively developing a strategy to make it happen.

City officials are meeting with major and minor players in the field — from Google and Ford to small startups — inviting them to use the city’s roads as a driverless test bed.

“If you’re an innovator, test it here, put your vehicles on the roads of Beverly Hills,” said Grayson Brulte, a technology industry consultant and adviser to the municipality’s Smart City/Technology Committee.

Beverly Hills is organizing a symposium on driverless cars in January. A close-off of Rodeo Drive for a driverless car demonstration day is also in the works, Brulte said.

Styling itself as a technology innovator preparing for a fast-arriving future, the city in December will start laying fiber optic cable to carry superspeed Internet service into every business and home. It will be linked to the city’s traffic control system, too. Researchers, dependent on huge volumes of traffic data generated by robot cars bristling with sensors, could tap into that high-speed network to collect it.

That sounds like the right environment to Aaron Steinfeld, who researches intelligent transportation systems at Carnegie Mellon University. Driverless research today, he said, works best “in environments that are consistent and easy to perceive.”

“Worn or absent road markings, potholes, and snow or fallen leaves all create challenges,” he said. “Wide roads and low speeds can help — it’s easier to avoid a collision if there is time and space to react.”

Autonomous public transit is an idea that has been gaining traction.

In July, Tesla founder Elon Musk announced plans for a “high passenger density urban transport” vehicle that is in the early development stages “and should be ready for unveiling next year.” The small bus would be designed without a center aisle, with seats close to the entrances, and would be able to automatically pace itself with traffic.

Another company, Local Motors, is developing a small driverless bus called the Olli.

Automakers say they don’t expect to deploy driverless vehicles for three to five years at least.