Uber removes self-driving cars from streets of California

Uber has decided to remove its self-driving cars from California roads following the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) opinion that the self-driving car program violated California law. The introduction of self-driving cars happened only a week ago in San Francisco.

DMV revoked the registration of 16 of the company’s autonomous vehicles, under the understanding that the registrations were “improperly issued for these vehicles because they were not properly marked as test vehicles.” Uber replied that the law doesn’t apply to its self-driving cars, because humans constantly monitor its vehicles and can take over control at any time. DMV’s understanding, however, was that the law applies to the kind of technology in the vehicle, not whether a human is behind the wheel. If the car is equipped to be autonomous eventually, it’s subject to the law. Uber said it was looking for alternative uses for its vehicles and different cities where it could redeploy the cars.