November 02, 2018
Uber hasn’t tested its self-driving cars in the months following a deadly crash in Arizona, but it seems the company is interested in getting back on public roads in the Keystone State.
In a report to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Uber said it would resume testing with two employees in the front seats of the car; with an automatic braking system enabled at all times; and more strictly-monitored employees, according to Reuters.
Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement to Reuters the company will only put its self-driving cars back on public roads when it has “implemented improved processes.”
The Arizona crash, according to police, occurred when a back-up driver in a self-driving car was watching a television show on her phone and didn’t realize the car was headed for a pedestrian.
That crash marked the first time, ever, a death had been attributed to a self-driving vehicle. Uber shut down its self-driving tests in Arizona back in May.
Uber had been testing its self-driving cars on the other side of Pennsylvania, in Pittsburgh, for months before the crash, but it also terminated the Pittsburgh program in July because of the Arizona crash.
Back in July, Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation issued 10 new pages of guidance for companies hoping to test automated vehicles in the state. Aurora, another company focused on self-driving cars, got the go-ahead from Pennsylvania in mid-October.
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