Uber has announced the suspensions of its pilot programme for driverless car after one of its test vehicles crashed on an Arizona roadway.
The accident occurred after the driver of a second vehicle made a turn and failed to avoid a self-driving Uber, according to reports. No one was seriously injured during the incident.
According to a Reuters report, Uber emailed a statement saying that there were two ‘safety’ drivers in the front seats of its car, which was in self-driving mode at the time of the crash, which is standard procedure.
A company spokesperson also said, “We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle.”
The company’s autonomous vehicles pilot programme began in Pittsburgh in 2016 before branching out to Arizona. It was then installed in San Francisco in December, however, the California Department of Motor Vehicles halted the testing activities.
Uber said it will be grounding driverless cars involved in a pilot program in Arizona, Pittsburgh and San Francisco pending the outcome of investigation of the accident.
This was not the first accident involving a self-driving car. Last year, a driver of a Tesla Motors Inc Model S car operating in autopilot mode was killed in a collision with a truck in Williston, Florida. Google’s self-driving vehicle operated was involved in a crash last year in California, hitting a bus while attempting to navigate around an obstacle.
