Uber temporarily halts self-driving car test drives after accident

Uber is temporarily suspending the test drives of its self-driving cars after one is involved in an accident. According to the local police, the fault lies with the other driver and not with the Uber car or its passengers. Uber is still investigating.

Uber states in an email to Reuters that the person behind the wheel of the self-driving car was not driving. There were no other occupants other than the co-driver. The safety drivers intervene with some regularity when the car’s sensors have a hard time due to bad weather conditions or unclear road markings. Uber is not only suspending its test drives in Arizona, but also those in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The accident took place on the night of Friday to Saturday in the city of Tempe, in the American Arizona. According to the police, the driver of the other car did not give way to the Uber-Volvo when it should have been. The collision resulted. The fact that the car is on its side suggests that one or both cars were speeding through the city. However, no one was seriously injured, according to Uber.

It is not the first time that a self-driving car – just like human-driven cars – has been involved in a traffic accident. For example, a year ago a Google car collided with a bus traveling at 25 kilometers per hour at an intersection at three kilometers per hour.

Image: Mark Beach – Fresco News