Uber suspends self-driving cars after crash
WASHINGTON: US ride-hailing company Uber has suspended its selfdriving cars from the roads after one such vehicle crashed in Arizona, the media reported on Sunday.
Pictures posted online showed the car on its right side on a street, next to another badly damaged vehicle, the BBC reported. US-based Fresco News posted the images and video on Facebook on Saturday and wrote: “No injuries yet reported in an accident involving a self-driving Uber.”
A police official said the accident occurred when the other vehicle “failed to yield” to the Uber car at a left turn.
“There was a person behind the wheel. It is uncertain at this time if they were controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision,” the official said.
The company pulled its self-driving vehicles off the road in Arizona at first, followed by test sites in Pennsylvania and California — all three states where it operated the vehicles.
Uber began testing its self-driving cars in Arizona in February after California’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registrations of the company’s fleet operating in San Francisco. Uber had refused to apply for a $150 permit to test the vehicles in the city.
Already mired in several controversies, this crash is the latest in a string of highly public incidents involving the ride-sharing company.
The company lost several big executives since February.