Uber’s self-driving cars resume trials in Pittsburgh in manual mode

Uber’s self-driving cars are being manually driven on public roads in Pittsburgh after a fatal crash which prompted the company to pull out of its testing programme in North America. The company is trialling new safeguards which it says will improve vehicle fleet safety and performance. According to a report by Medium, Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technologies, says: “While we are eager to resume testing of our self-driving system, we see manual driving as an important first step in piloting thes
July 27, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
8336 Uber’s self-driving cars are being manually driven on public roads in Pittsburgh after a %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 35413 0 link-external fatal crash false /categories/utc/news/uber-ends-self-driving-programme-in-arizona/ false false%> which prompted the company to pull out of its testing programme in North America. The company is trialling new safeguards which it says will improve vehicle fleet safety and performance.


According to a report by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external Medium false https://medium.com/@UberATG/self-driving-cars-return-to-pittsburgh-roads-in-manual-mode-f83e506a04b9 false false%>, Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced Technologies, says: “While we are eager to resume testing of our self-driving system, we see manual driving as an important first step in piloting these safeguards.”

An Uber mission specialist will be behind the wheel to help maintain the vehicle’s safely while another specialist will be in the passenger seat to document notable events. They will carry out tasks involving data collection and keeping the vehicle’s HD map up to date.

Meyhofer says all mission specialists have completed new training modules for safe manual driving which include dedicated time in defensive and distracted driving courses as well as improved test track situational awareness drills.

All self-driving vehicles will feature a driver-monitoring system to help mission specialists remain focused while driving. The system sends an audio alert to the driver if it detects inattentive behaviour.

Additionally, built-in collision avoidance systems will activate emergency braking if there is a sudden change in traffic ahead of the vehicle. It will also send imminent collision warnings to the driver and passenger.

The self-driving cars also come with a front tablet, where turn-by-turn navigation and vehicle information is displayed.

Uber Advanced Technologies consists of an engineering team who are dedicated to self-driving technologies, mapping and vehicle safety.

Location Based Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ITS Asia Pacific Forum 2020: entry reminder
    August 30, 2019
    The ITS Asia Pacific (AP) Forum 2020 is accepting entries on the theme of ‘ITS Innovation Creating Liveable Communities’ until 6 September. The programme committee invites submissions for consideration as either scientific, technical or commercial papers. They are also accepting entries for special interest sessions. Additionally, AP 2020 has opened the Future Leaders Programme to recent graduates under 30 years old, allowing them to develop skills they need for academic and professional careers.
    Read More
  • ITS Australia: National Awards 2019 nominees
    October 15, 2019
    An autonomous Mobility as a Service pilot at a retirement village is among the nominees in ITS Australia’s National Awards 2019. Aurrigo is exploring how the technology will be used safely by elderly passengers in an environment where technical systems are not well understood. The Queensland Police Service’s forensic crash unit has also been nominated - for using drones to map crash scenes to help reduce road closure times and traffic congestion. In addition, Cooee Busways was chosen for using vehicl
    Read More
  • SP Group to implement 1,000 EV chargers in Singapore by 2020
    October 30, 2018
    Electricity and gas company SP Group says it will build a network of 1,000 electric vehicle (EV) chargers in Singapore by 2020 to meet public demand. Wong Kim Yin, SP group chief executive officer, says the initiative will enable greater adoption of EVs, help its customers go green and save energy and cost. The deployment will include 250 high-powered direct current (DC) chargers which are expected to offer power ratings up to 350kW to support EV models with bigger battery capacities and longer driv
    Read More
  • Maven expands peer-to-peer car-share service
    October 30, 2018
    General Motors’ subsidiary Maven is expanding its peer-to-peer car-share option to more US cities. The service – which sees owners renting out their vehicles - is currently available in four urban areas: Ann Arbor, Chicago, Denver and Detroit. But GM says it will now be rolled out in Baltimore, Boston, Jersey City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC by the end of the year. Owners can rent out their GM car, so long as it is registered in 2015 or later, with Maven taking 40% of each rental. Despi
    Read More

Highlighted Content