Uber has suspended its self-driving-car tests

Discussion in 'Wall St. News' started by vanzandt, Mar 27, 2017.

  1. vanzandt

    vanzandt

    http://www.businessinsider.com/uber-suspends-self-driving-car-tests-pittsburgh-arizona-crash-2017-3

    Uber has suspended its self-driving-car pilot programs in Pittsburgh and Arizona after one of its vehicles was involved in an accident late Friday night.

    One of Uber's self-driving Volvo SUVs flipped onto its side after an accident in Tempe, Arizona. A photo of the scene showed another car in the background with dents and smashed windows.

    A Tempe police spokeswoman told Business Insider that the Uber vehicle was not responsible for the crash and that there were no injuries.

    Uber said it had suspended its self-driving-car tests in Arizona. But an Uber representative told Business Insider that the self-driving cars were suspended in all three of the company's testing areas: Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Arizona.

    The Uber representative said its self-driving cars would be back on roads again in San Francisco on Monday but remain suspended in Arizona and Pittsburgh.

    Uber hasn't used its self-driving cars in San Francisco to pick up passengers; the company is using its two vehicles there for mapping purposes, and they are being driven manually.

    Uber said it expected its self-driving cars to be back on the roads in Arizona and Pittsburgh soon but didn't provide a timeline.



    Uber launched its self-driving-car tests in Pittsburgh in September. Since then, the ride-hailing service has been picking up passengers in Ford Fusion cars retrofitted with Uber's driverless tech.

    Uber attempted to launch a second self-driving-car program in San Francisco in mid-December but ran into issues with the California DMV. It had failed to obtain an autonomous-vehicle license before the launch, which led the DMV to revoke the registrations of the company's 16 autonomous vehicles. Uber had been planning to use its self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs for that program.

    Uber then shipped its autonomous SUVs to Arizona on the back of one of its self-driving trucks.

    The company tested its self-driving cars in California for just a week before moving them to Arizona. During that week, however, one of the cars was caught on video running a red light at a busy intersection.

    An Uber representative said at the time that the incident was due to human error, but employees told The New York Times the car had been driving itself.

    Since late January, Uber has been using two Ford Fusions with autonomous technology to map routes in San Francisco, but the cars have not been driving themselves. The cars will resume on Monday.
    Company scrutiny

    Travis Kalanick Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Uber is under intense scrutiny after a string of scandals.

    The ride-hailing service is involved in a lawsuit over its self-driving technology.

    Waymo, Alphabet's self-driving-car company, is accusing Uber of stealing the designs for its lidar system, a key sensor that helps autonomous cars detect obstacles. Waymo filed an injunction asking a federal judge to freeze Uber's use of its self-driving tech.

    Uber has also been accused of promoting a sexist workplace. Susan Fowler, a former engineer, published a blog post in February about harassment and gender bias she said she experienced at the company.

    Shortly after, The Times published a bombshell report detailing a company retreat at which a manager groped several female employees. The manager was later fired, according to the report.

    Uber also used a tool called Greyball to evade government officials and regulators who were trying to block the ride-hailing service, according to another Times report.
     
    systematictrader and dealmaker like this.
  2. CBC

    CBC

    Honestly, how do they let self driving cars out on the road?