That automatically gave police the authority to confiscate the cars, forcing Uber to shut down the operation.
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Despite legal setbacks, self-driving vehicles may “disrupt the auto world sooner than many people think”, as Richard Read wrote in a blog post for The Christian Science Monitor this spring.
Uber started its self-driving vehicle program in San Francisco last week. Uber’s argument is that these are test vehicles and the cars are not fully autonomous as there is always a driver behind the wheel to take over the wheel here and there.
Under the regulations, advanced autopilot systems, like Tesla’s, are not regulated whereas Google’s testing of its autonomous vehicle adheres to strict rules.
Uber’s self-driving cars are coming soon to a road near you.
Uber now operates another trial of its self driving technology, in Pittsburgh where its Advanced Technology Group is based. One of them is the fact that the city is small and with major traffic congestion.
In characteristic fashion, Uber said it would keep the cars on the road.
Uber executives will undoubtedly have mixed emotions as they arrive to work at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Thursday morning.
A self-driving Uber auto enters a garage where the company houses its vehicles.
Why did California regulators consider those tests to be “illegal”? The driver could take control of the vehicle whenever necessary.
The California project was not the only place the public could try out a driverless vehicle-in August, Singapore’s driverless taxis were the first to be unveiled in a public capacity. Hopefully if the vehicles return to San Francisco, they come with the correct paperwork and fewer human errors.
What happened most recently and why does it matter?
“We have stopped our self-driving pilot in California as the DMV has revoked the registrations for our self-driving cars”, an Uber spokeswoman wrote in an emailed statement.
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The three parties met Wednesday and the DMV chose to revoke the standard registration on the 16 vehicles Uber was using to test the new technology, reports TechCrunch. Despite Uber’s claims to the contrary, the body said it was necessary for such vehicles to have a special permit. The Department of Motor Vehicles was exhausted of the back and forth with Uber, which had refused to obtain special permits for its self-driving Volvo SUVs because it insisted they did not fit California’s definition of true autonomous cars.
