Uber has put its fleet of self-driving cars on public roads in select cities across the country to conduct various tests as it seeks to develop this technology and play a big role in the future of transportation. The project has hit a setback, though, as the company has had to ground its entire self-driving electric car fleet in the United States after an accident occurred in Arizona which led to one of its Volvo SUV’s flipping onto its side.
Uber suspended the pilot program in Arizona immediately after the crash as the car was in self-driving mode when the accident happened. The company has now confirmed that the self-driving tests have been suspended in Pittsburg and San Francisco as well and will remain so until the investigation is completed.
“Our vehicles in Arizona remain grounded while we continue our investigation. Our vehicles are grounded in Pittsburgh and SF today as well,” an Uber spokeswoman confirmed to TechCrunch.
While the spokeswoman confirmed that the suspension in Arizona is going to last until the investigation is completed, there’s no set time limit for the suspension in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, but it goes without saying that the company will be cautious about putting its self-driving cars back on the road without being sure that there are no fundamental problems with the system.
It merits mentioning here, though, that no one was injured in the Arizona crash and local police say that the self-driving car was not responsible. It was actually a regular car being driven by a human that “failed to yield” and thus caused the accident.
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