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

  • Worries as Huawei given role in UK’s 5G network
    April 24, 2019
    Alarm has been expressed by MPs over the UK government’s decision to allow Chinese firm Huawei to work on the UK’s 5G network. Prime minister Theresa May has banned Huawei from supplying ‘core’ parts of the country’s 5G infrastructure – but is believed to have given the green light for it to help deliver what are being called ‘non-core’ parts. As well as being for mobile phones, 5G is the technology which will be used to improve connectivity of autonomous vehicles and traffic controls. However, there ar
    Read More
  • Fostering ITS Policy and the IRF manifesto
    November 26, 2012
    Fostering ITS Policy, an international workshop jointly organised by TTS Italia (National Association for Telematics for Transport and Safety) and the IRF Policy Committee on ITS, aims to bring together key partners from the public, private and academic sectors in Italy to discuss ITS policy frameworks and developments in ITS university education. The workshop takes place as part of the New World Conference The New World II, the ITS for mobility management convention in Bologna on 5 December 2012 at Savoia
    Read More
  • ISS Europe and CitySync showcase Jet-Aludra intelligent ANPR camera
    October 22, 2012
    Image Sensing Systems Europe and CitySync, specialists in detection and ANPR solutions for the ITS market, have used the ITS World Congress to showcase the Jet-Aludra which incorporates an IR ANPR camera, colour overview camera and an on-board processor. This cost effective Intelligent ANPR camera processes images at the time of capture, so smaller packets of information can be transferred via wireless 3G or wired connections to a central server for review or directly to a police back office facility, match
    Read More
  • TISPOL welcomes EC measures to reduce road deaths
    May 23, 2018
    TISPOL has welcomed a package of measures announced by the European Commission (EC) to help reduce the 25,000 deaths that occur on EU roads annually. Ruth Purdie, general secretary of TISPOL, says: “Today’s announcements could represent the biggest step forward in road safety in Europe since the introduction of the seat belt." Antonio Avenoso of the European Transport Safety Council said the EC’s announcements require backing from EU member states and the European Parliament. They should not give in to
    Read More

Highlighted Content