Uber ends self-driving operation in Arizona
Uber has shuttered its self-driving testing program in Arizona and laid off close to 300 workers there — most of them test drivers, or "vehicle operators" — two months after one of its autonomous cars killed a pedestrian, the company said on Wednesday. The company had been testing its self-driving technology in the state since 2016, but halted operations in the wake of the March crash. The company's testing was also indefinitely suspended by the Arizona governor's office.
[...] Uber says it still plans to restart its self-driving operations in other locations (like Pittsburgh or San Francisco) once the investigations into the Arizona crash are complete. But in those locations, Uber will "drive in a much more limited way," according to an internal email obtained by ArsTechnica.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday May 25 2018, @12:19AM (2 children)
The essential difference between the two: a buggy web site will kill profit, a buggy self-driving car will only kill people that aren't its passengers (killing passengers would be the kind of profit-killing bug).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Friday May 25 2018, @05:51AM (1 child)
I am pretty sure that the court costs and payout of this case will result in quite a bit of profit lost for the company. Well into the millions.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday May 25 2018, @06:09AM
FYI [reuters.com]
So no courts and the settlement was quick enough so I feel that it wasn't something that threatened Uber financial status.
Profit lost? Uber didn't have a ready-to-market self-driving car, so the lost profit was, at best, long term potential profit - things like this happens when you run a R&D project which can turn sour at any time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford