Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Had Issues Before Arizona Accident
In the ongoing investigation following the recent Tempe, Arizona car accident involving an Uber self-driving vehicle and a pedestrian who unfortunately lost her life, most of the focus has been on that singular instance and what might have happened to cause the car to crash into the victim while traveling on automonous with a safety driver on board. When investigators realized that the vehicle should have been able to detect the pedestrian with the level of infrared technology the vehicle had, the investigation turned inward.
Now The New York Times is reporting that Uber’s self-driving vehicles were failing to live up to the company’s expectations months before the crash. According to the investigation, Uber’s self-driving cars were struggling to drive through construction areas on roads and highways as well as near tall vehicles like commercial trucks. Uber’s human safety drivers had to intervene far more often than the drivers of other self-driving vehicles currently being tested that were placed on the roads by other automonous vehicle competitors like Waymo.