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Uber Technologies Inc. is committed to improving the safety of its autonomous vehicles while it should resume testing technology suspended earlier this year after one of its cars hit and killed a pedestrian of Arizona.
In a long report released on Friday, the airline giant announced that it would improve its software and training and keep two test pilots in each vehicle, among other measures. Uber said he was seeking a permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to resume testing vehicles in Pittsburgh, where he has an office.
After the fatal collision in Arizona in March, the company suspended testing of robotic cars in four cities, shut down its Tempe, Arizona office, and laid off about 400 test pilots as part of a large-scale trial. redesign of the expensive program. Some investors and executives have argued that the division, known as the Advanced Technologies Group, should be closed down or significantly reduced as costs increase.
Last year, Uber removed the second safety driver, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, of most autonomous vehicles, in an effort to cut costs. In the March accident, the car was driven by a single security driver, the last line of defense, which, according to investigators, was streaming video on his phone a few moments before the accident, instead of monitoring the road.
Technologists believe that autonomous vehicles could be safer than current vehicles by eliminating human errors and reducing costs through increased efficiency. But the technology is years of technical control and will have to pass the regulatory rule.
"This is not a sprint: autonomous and man-made vehicles will coexist on the roads for decades," said Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, in the safety report. "The addition of autonomous vehicles to our platform could increase the size and efficiency of the Uber network as a whole, rather than replacing journeys."
The race to get vehicles on the road is not limited to safety. Uber also estimated that about three-quarters of the cost of trips go to his contracted drivers. The company is considering an initial public offering in 2019 that could bring in about $ 120 billion. He spent about $ 750 million for his self-driving efforts last year, said people familiar with the issue.
Uber is also looking for major automakers to put their vehicles on the road first, as well as
Alphabet
Inc.
who is now a stakeholder in a settlement of Uber's alleged theft of robotic car trade secrets.
A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said the agency is currently reviewing Uber's application.
A spokesman for the Mayor of Pittsburgh, William Peduto, said that Uber appeared to be taking a more measured approach than previously to deploy the vehicles. "It seems that they have made more security improvements," she said. "We will need more discussions, including the number of vehicles they will have in the streets of the city and the exact timing."
As part of its new approach, Uber said it would no longer deactivate the Volvo SUV braking systems it uses, which investigators said in the March crash. It will also improve its software to better detect objects or people faster.
The company fired nearly all of its so-called safety drivers earlier this year, saying it would reinstate some of them with further training for road and track tests. Some of these drivers, whose job was to stay alert and drive in the event of a problem, had limited prior training and no safety training.
Write to Greg Bensinger at [email protected]
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