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

  • FASTR consortium releases Automotive Industry Guidelines for Secure Over-the-Air Updates
    November 9, 2017
    A non-profit research consortium dedicated to automotive cyber security, Future of Automotive Security Technology Research (FASTR), has announced the availability of the Automotive Industry Guidelines for Secure Over-the-Air Updates. These guidelines are intended to assist automotive manufacturers and others involved in evaluating platforms for secure updates, describing the threat models, providing recommended cryptographic algorithms and detailing a step-by-step checklist for evaluating state of the art
    Read More
  • ITS America student essay competition: deadline 14 April
    April 9, 2019
    The deadline for US college students to take part in ITS America’s annual essay competition is fast approaching – entries must be in by Sunday 14 April. The competition, sponsored by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), invites students of transportation, engineering and public policy to share ‘thought provoking’ visions for the future of transport. The topic is: ‘How do you envision disruptive technologies impacting transportation systems to make them safer, greener or smarter over the next 10 years?’ U
    Read More
  • Countdown to 2015 ITS America Annual Meeting & Expo
    May 1, 2015
    There’s less than a month to go before the 2015 ITS America Annual Meeting & Expo gets under way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania gets underway in what will be a unique and visionary event. The theme is Bridges To Innovation so for the more than 2,000 of the nation’s top transportation and technology business leaders and investors, policymakers, public agency representatives, and researchers, this will be one of the most forward looking Annual Meetings.
    Read More
  • London comes first for public transport but suffers from congested roads, says Here Technologies
    November 30, 2018
    London has the best public transport system in the world - but the UK capital’s roads are among the most congested, says a new report. Here Technologies’ Urban Mobility Index ranked transit efficiency in 38 cities based on their public transport frequency, density and coverage as well as how public transport performs against car speed. Just behind London are Zurich, Toronto, Washington, DC and Stockholm. However, London was ranked 34th for congestion. The top five least-congested cities are: H
    Read More

Highlighted Content