Uber Self-Driving Car News, Update: Ride-Sharing Company's Fleet of Autonomous Vehicles Moves to Arizona
Due to a ban issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Uber has taken its fleet of autonomous vehicles to a new and more relaxed state — Arizona.
Back in December 2016, the online transportation network company was unable to proceed with testing its 16 self-driving cars on the streets of San Francisco after the California DMV revoked the autonomous vehicles' permits as they "were not properly marked as test vehicles."
Uber decided to battle the California DMV's regulations, claiming that their vehicles did not fall in the department's definition of autonomous vehicles. Now, the ride-sharing company is unable to continue its self-driving program in its home base in California without the risk of facing legal action.
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This week, Uber announced that it has added a second location for its self-driving car program — Tempe, Arizona. According to Bloomberg, the state's governor, Doug Ducey, has been very welcoming of the program and the government official even received the first ride.
"The governor welcomes us there and wants to be part of innovation trends. We need real road miles to make the thing work," said Uber senior president Emil Michael.
Ducey is said to be a staunch proponent of autonomous vehicles and due to an executive order signed back in August 2015, other companies will also be able to test their self-driving vehicles in the state.
With Uber's self-driving car program now operating in Tempe, this means residents who request an UberX will potentially be able to ride a self-driving Volvo XC90. Each self-driving car will still have a human to monitor the entire trip. If a customer does not want a self-driving car, they will be able to cancel the ride and request for another vehicle.
Uber also rolled out the ride-hailing program for their autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in late 2016.
Meanwhile, back in California, Uber still has to deal with the sexual harassment claims made by former female employee, Susan Fowler, which, if proven to be true, will likely cause irreparable harm to the company's reputation. There is already a #DeleteUber boycott campaign going around in social media.
