After delays in production, a prototype car failed buff strength testing in August 2015, leading to the cancellation of the contract with Nippon Sharyo.

The bilevel cars were designed by the Next Generation Corridor Equipment Pool Committee (NGCE) under the provisions of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008.

The California Car is designed with two wide lower-level door openings per side, rather than the single narrow door of the Superliner; interior stairways are straight single flights, rather than spirals; seating for trips of at most six hours; and with total accessibility as an original criterion, rather than as an adaptation.

[1]: 43  The cab-baggage design would have capacity for 15 fewer passengers, with much of the lower level seating given over to checked baggage storage.

[1]: 34 Caltrans, on behalf of the state coalition (California, Michigan, Missouri and Illinois), issued a request for proposal (RFP) for building cars to the new bilevel specification in April 2012.

Five companies submitted final proposals: Alstom, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), Kawasaki, Siemens, and Sumitomo.

[4] The 88 Midwestern cars were funded by a $220 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) grant which, by law, had to be spent by September 30, 2017.