An autonomous Uber vehicle runs ¡six consecutive red lights!

Uber’s major push to develop its autonomous technology does not seem to be enough. The car company has suffered several incidents in its autonomous mobility system, and the latest of them has been quite dramatic. An autonomous Uber vehicle ran as many as six red lights during a test carried out in the city of San Francisco. We already warned the other day about the unresolved problems of autonomous vehicles, but this was not part of the plan.

In December 2016, an Volvo XC90 equipped with Uber’s autonomous technology ran a red light. A few months later, the number of ignored traffic lights rises to six, a clear sign that the autonomous technology of the American company still has a lot to improve.

Despite the serious error, Uber spokesperson Chelsea Kohler sought to defend its autonomous system by arguing that the vehicle’s driver should have intervened to avoid the six violations. “Our autonomous technology requires human intervention. The driver of the vehicle had time to intervene, but did not take control before crossing the traffic light and then drove through the pedestrian crossing manually,” the Uber spokesperson stated.

In addition, the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) notified Uber – months before the autonomous vehicle testing program began – of the need to obtain a permit to carry out such tests on the streets of San Francisco. Despite receiving the notice, the American car company did not process the relevant permit and went ahead with the tests. When it finally submitted the aforementioned documentation, the DMV decided to revoke the registration of its autonomous cars. As a consequence, the testing program will be moved to the city of Arizona.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CdJ4oae8f4

If all of the above was not enough, a few weeks ago Uber received a lawsuit from the company Waymo (created by Google) for alleged theft of trade secrets. Certainly these are not easy days for the car company based in San Francisco.