Uber‘s confusing defiance of a California requirement that it get a $150 permit to run self-driving vehicles in San Francisco came to an end with the ride-hailing business revealing it was suspending the program. Uber had little option: California’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked registrations for its 16-vehicle test fleet previously in the day.
“We’re now taking a look at where we can redeploy these automobiles, but stay 100 percent devoted to California and will be enhancing our efforts to develop convenient statewide rules,” the company stated.
Uber’s position started with the beginning of the test program on December 14, acknowledging from the start that it had chosen not to seek Autonomous Vehicle Testing permits, regardless of the fact that they aren’t particularly challenging to obtain. Presently, 20 companies testing an overall of 130 self-driving lorries in California have already obtained them, as have a number of specific test drivers, as per the DMV.
Apart from paying a $150 fee, applicants accept to give accident information and disengagement reports– how frequently a human motorist takes control from the automated car. Conceivably, Uber doesn’t want to provide those details for the public to see.
Anthony Levandowski, head of Uber’s self-driving team, informed press reporters recently that such an approval wasn’t required for the Volvo XC90 SUVs in the San Francisco test fleet considering that each car had 2 technicians in the front seats at all times. Uber started a comparable public test program in Pittsburgh in September, the head office for its driverless car research study efforts.
The state DMV highly disagreed and the California Attorney general of the United States’s office demanded that Uber comply or stop the program.
