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Thursday, January 26, 2023

Uber calls a halt to self-driving car testing in Arizona

 

Uber announced on Wednesday it would end its self-driving car testing in Arizona.

At around the same time a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said the self-driving Uber vehicle that hit and killed a woman in Arizona earlier this year initially misidentified the pedestrian as โ€œan unknown object,โ€ then a vehicle and finally a bike.n

The safety agency said the Uberโ€™s software detected the pedestrian six seconds before the collision. The software also established 1.3 seconds before the crash that it would need to enact emergency braking โ€œto mitigate a collision,โ€ according to the report. But the cars are unable to implement emergency braking when the computer is operating the vehicle.

The company had previously suspended its self-driving car operations in Arizona after the pedestrian accident. Its self-driving car operators had not worked since the suspension, but Uber said that it has continued to pay them.

โ€œWeโ€™re committed to self-driving technology, and we look forward to returning to public roads in the near future. In the meantime, we remain focused on our top-to-bottom safety review, having brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture,โ€ an Uber spokesperson told the Arizona Republic.

Uber reportedly plans to restart its testing in other cities, including Pittsburgh and San Francisco.