Uber set to end California self-drive tests after death

UBER has decided to stop testing autonomous vehicles on California public roads by letting its state permit expire on Saturday without renewing it.

If the ride-hailing service wants to return to the state, it will have to get a new permit and address any investigations into a crash involving one of its autonomous test SUVs in Arizona that killed a pedestrian, the California DMV said in a letter sent to the company yesterday.

“Any application for a new permit will need to address any follow-up analysis or investigations from the recent crash in Arizona and may also reernor quire a meeting with the department,” said the letter from DMV deputy director Brian Soublet. California is the second state in which Uber won’t be able to test autonomous vehicles on public roads.

On Monday, Arizona Gov- Doug Ducey suspended Uber’s self-driving vehicle testing privileges due to the crash.

On the night of March 18 an Uber autonomous Volvo SUV struck and killed Elaine Herzberg, 49, who was walking a bicycle across a darkened boulevard in Tempe, near Phoenix. Experts have said that the SUV’s laser and radar sensors should have spotted Herzberg, and the vehicle should have stopped.

Also, the SUV’s human back-up driver appeared to be looking down before the crash and had a stunned look when it happened.