Uber Shutting Self-Driving Car Operations In Arizona Following Fatal Crash
- by Chuck Martin , May 23, 2018
Uber is ending its self-driving operations in Arizona following the death of a pedestrian hit by an Uber car operating in autonomous mode there in March.
Immediately following the accident, Uber grounded its self-driving cars in Phoenix, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Toronto. Others, including Toyota and two Boston companies, Nutonomy and Optimus Ride, temporarily also halted their trials at the time.
“We’re committed to self-driving technology, and we look forward to returning to public roads in the near future,” an Uber spokesperson told the AI & IoT Daily. “In the meantime, we remain focused on our top-to-bottom safety review, having brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture.”
Late last year Uber signed a deal with an estimated $1.4 billion to buy up to 24,000 Volvo vehicles for autonomous driving and Uber is not alone. Alphabet’s Waymo recently announced it was adding up to 20,000 Jaguars to its fleet of self-driving cars and Apple reportedly has increased its fleet of self-driving cars to more than 50.
Uber is testing other forms of unmanned vehicles, having recently received governmental approval to begin testing food delivery by drone.
Wonder if Volvo, now owned by the Chinese< will have any recourse for delayed sales of the Sweedish Ghostbuster wagons?
Hey, I may have missed it in the article, but did they ever mention how much the ambulance lights add to the cost of the car? Didn't think so. In three + years of following this titanic effort, the price has never been mentioned............hmm. My money is on the equivalent of solar panels. Everybody agrees that the technology is good, but the $20,000 average install on a SFD, and the pay-back is 20+ years out, make it not worth it. When people swallow up the price tag for plastic circuit board conversion, they will stop in their tracks for a purchase. My guess it adds at least $15,000 to the car. That's why they're pushing it for taxi's. Their cost , or lease is irrelevant . This is Olympic Level games.
You are very correct, Mark, there have been no price mentions by any of the major players, as you flagged some time ago. We're also waiting.