Earlier this week Uber launched its self-driving pilot in San Francisco with a fleet of self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs, but now is moving it to Arizona.
Earlier this week Uber launched its self-driving pilot in San Francisco with a fleet of self-driving Volvo XC90 SUVs. Within hours there were reports that the self-driving vehicles were running red lights, even though they were manned by an engineer. Once the California Department of Motor Vehicles got word about the pilot program, it quickly shut it down, so now Uber is moving the pilot to Arizona.
The reason that the DMV shut down the pilot in California is because the DMV claims that Uber never registered the Volvo XC90 test vehicles as self-driving vehicles in the state. According to Uber, the company never felt the need to get the necessary permits, since the test vehicles are always an Uber engineer on board to supervise. Although Uber is now going to move the test to Arizona, the company hasn’t given up on testing the program in California.
Related: Volvo and Uber team up to develop self driving cars
“We’re now looking at where we can redeploy these cars but remain 100 percent committed to California and will be redoubling our efforts to develop workable statewide rules,” Uber said in a stated.
Will Uber face the same welcome in Arizona? Likely no, since the governor has already publicly stated his response, “California may not want you; but AZ does!”
Source: Automotive News
