Uber is facing hurdles about its self-driving car operations in the USA
Uber has announced a decision to shut down its self-driving car programme in Arizona, USA, two months after an Uber autonomous car was involved in a fatal accident in the state. After the crash, Uber suspended self-driving car operations across all US cities where it was active, while the Arizona governor also suspended the company’s license to test self-driving cars. According to Reuters, the company plans to resume limited testing in other US cities where it had previously operated. One of these cities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which welcome Uber two years ago, but whose mayor is now laying out stringent conditions under which the company could resume operations. Meanwhile, an initial report issued by the US National Transportation Safety Board on the Arizona accident indicates that the car detected the pedestrian six seconds before the crash. However, it was unable to prevent the collision because the autonomous system had been programmed in such a way that it did not allow it to alert the safety driver or to activate the emergency braking system (as the company had deliberately disabled this option).