Local news outlet Nice Matin said an identity card was found in the rented truck, in the name of a local man, 31, of Tunisian origin, but police did not comment on whether it belonged to the suspect.
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Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, who traveled to the scene, said police were trying to identify the driver.
Wassim Bouhlel, a Nice native who spoke nearby, said he saw a truck drive into the crowd.
At least 84 people were killed, and many more injured.
The first driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as he drove into people in the eastern city of Dijon, injuring 13.
Counter-terrorist investigators were leading the probe, into the attack, local media said, and a local government official said weapons and grenades were found inside the truck.
French President Francois Hollande, who was in the south of France at the time, had hours earlier said a state of emergency put in place after the Paris attacks in November would not be extended when it was due to expire on July 26.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia is now clarifying whether or not Armenians were among the victims and wounded of the Nice terror attack in France.
Leaders from around the world are expressing their condolences for the victims of Thursday’s massacre in Nice, and condemning the attacker. No group has yet claimed responsibility.
“Deep emotion and infinite sadness in the face of the attack in [Nice]”, Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, said in a post on Twitter.
The Consulate General of Russia in Marseille, France, is seeking more information about the Russians involved, the statement said.
“And, as I say, the threat level here is already at a level that says a terrorist attack is highly likely”.
Analysts noted that the Islamic State has called on its followers to kill civilians in Western countries by any means possible, including vehicular attacks.
Among the 80 killed, several were children, Hollande said.
Damien Allemand, the paper’s correspondent, was quoted as saying: “People are running”. “There was carnage on the road”, he said. “We are facing a war that terrorism has brought to us”.
“A person jumped onto the truck to try to stop it”, Ciotti told Europe 1 radio.
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Estrosi said the truck was driven by someone who appeared to have “completely premeditated behavior”.
