Uber seeks to resume AV trials nearly eight months after Arizona fatality

Uber wants to resume testing its self-driving cars on public roads nearly eight months after one of its autonomous vehicles (AV) killed a pedestrian in Arizona. The ride-hailing company has released a voluntary safety report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which includes safety enhancements to help prevent crashes and fatalities. Uber says its AVs would include two mission specialists – employees who have completed advanced training courses in self-driving vehicle operations. The
November 6, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
8336 Uber wants to resume testing its self-driving cars on public roads nearly eight months after one of its autonomous vehicles (AV) killed a %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 34272 0 link-external pedestrian false /categories/utc/news/ubers-autonomous-taxi-kills-pedestrian-north-american-trials-suspended/ false false%> in Arizona.


The ride-hailing company has released a voluntary safety %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external report false https://uber.app.box.com/v/UberATGSafetyReport false false%> to the US 834 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration which includes safety enhancements to help prevent crashes and fatalities.

Uber says its AVs would include two mission specialists – employees who have completed advanced training courses in self-driving vehicle operations. The training includes modules on distracted driving and a preventive fatigue monitoring programme.

In %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 36189 0 link-external July false /categories/location-based-systems/news/ubers-self-driving-cars-resume-trials-in-pittsburgh-in-manual-mode/ false false%>, the company’s mission specialists began manually driving Uber’s AVs on public roads in Pittsburgh to trial new safeguards which are expected to improve vehicle safety and performance.

One mission specialist remained behind the wheel to maintain the vehicle’s safety while the other documented notable events in the passenger seat.

According to Uber, all self-driving vehicles are now equipped with a third-party driver monitoring system and feature improved system latency to detect objects and actors sooner and react faster.

In the introduction of the report, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO says the company has conducted a review of Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s safety approaches, system development and culture.

“We continue to support the 5628 National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the Tempe crash. We have taken a measured, phased approach to returning to on-road testing, starting first with manual driving in Pittsburgh,” Khosrowshahi adds.

Khosrowshahi emphasises that Uber has committed to deliver the safety report before returning to on-road testing in self-driving mode and will only go back on the road once the improved process has been implemented.

Related Content

  • ITS International launches MaaS Market Conference
    August 10, 2016
    ITS International is to host its first conference for national and city authorities interested in the benefits and implementation of Mobility as a Service (MaaS). There is no doubt that Mobility as a Service (MaaS) will be a major disrupter and the next mega-trend in urban and inter-urban transport. Why? Because it is more convenient and cheaper for the individual traveller.
    Read More
  • Safety protector minimises impact of collision
    February 26, 2014
    The first safety protector in the world designed for mitigating impacts of passenger cars and motorcyclists against road culvert ends.
    Read More
  • Tertu launches new N2W2 guardrail system
    March 22, 2018
    French road guardrail specialist Tertu Equipements is using Intertraffic as the debut show for its new T32 system, the company’s first entry in the N2W2 category. The company has had products in the N2W3 category before. It is now able to reach the required level of performance with a 2m 66cm spacing between posts. Previously, this had a post spacing of 2m. The T32 also uses a 16cm diameter half-log as the facing for the guardrail rather than the 22cm used previously. The combination of these factors
    Read More
  • Unmanned to trial autonomous delivery bots in Seoul
    September 25, 2019
    Technology start-up Unmanned Solutions is to deploy autonomous delivery robots in Sangam Digital Media City (DMC), an autonomous driving test bed South Korea’s capital Seoul. The Korean Times says the four-wheeled electric vehicles will operate in the city for a year, carrying 200kg of goods on a flat tray. Jung Young-Jae, a city official in charge of the start-up incubation project at Seoul Institute of Technology, says: “The robots will start with shipping supplies from freight trucks near the mai
    Read More

Highlighted Content