Arizona Governor suspends Uber's self-driving cars

Uber's autonomous car was involved in a pedestrian fatality in Tempe, Arizona on March 18, 2018. Recently, the authorities released a video of the same as well.

Upon the public release of the video, Governor of Arizona has sent a letter addressed to Uber's CEO Mr. Khosrowshahi, regarding the incident. The Governor has directed the State Department of transportation to revoke Uber's permission for testing as well as operating autonomous cars in Arizona. Uber has commented on the same via Twitter, saying that they are continuing the co-operation with the investigators and will be addressing any concerns the Governor's office could have.

The 20-second video released by the Tempe Police department reveals the inside as well as the outside view of the car. It shows that the car’s backup driver was looking down just before the crash. The car was in autonomous mode and the authorities have already ruled out driver impairment.

Meanwhile, Aptive, the supplier of radar and camera systems for Volvo, has reportedly revealed that their collision avoidance systems were disabled by Uber prior to being used as autonomous vehicle. A spokesperson for the supplier said that this could be due to the standard practice of disabling systems in the car when a company is testing its own autonomous driving system.

While the investigation of the event is still underway, Uber has kept its autonomous vehicle testing in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto suspended.

Source - Los Angeles Times