Autonomous driving problems continue: Uber suspends its tests in Arizona

We have mentioned many times that one of the major challenges facing the automotive industry is autonomous driving. Many manufacturers are working on it and announce their progress regularly. And it is not only the manufacturers: transport companies also have a stake in these developments. Uber, for example, is working to offer autonomous transport service to its customers, doing away with the need for a driver.

At present, Uber’s fleet in several US cities includes one or more vehicles of this type for testing. Things seemed to be going well and the tests were proving satisfactory. But this weekend an accident occurred in a town in Arizona involving one of these self-driving cars, and Uber decided to cancel all related activities in the state.

We could say this demonstrates, once again, that autonomous driving systems are not yet ready and need more control and testing to be effective. And we would be right, but the fact is that the other car was to blame for this incident. According to the police, the driver of the other vehicle involved lost concentration and caused the accident, so the Uber car was the victim of the other car’s distraction.

Even so, the company has halted all tests with the self-driving car in Arizona, while it assesses the situation and considers how to prevent future accidents in real traffic conditions. The car was operating in self-driving mode, although a human driver was controlling the steering wheel. Either way, neither this nor the driver-assistance systems were able to react in time, and the impact occurred, leaving the car lying on its side.

This is not the first setback for Uber’s fleet, as it also had to suspend autonomous driving tests in California after failing to win the trust of the authorities and failing to obtain the necessary permits to carry them out. A shame, because these are the tests that will allow the technology to advance properly and functionally. For now, companies must keep working to iron out all the errors and make autonomous driving something commonplace.

Source: Carscoops

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