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Uber to Stop Testing Self-Driving Cars in Arizona, Continue Elsewhere

posted by chromas on Thursday May 24 2018, @11:23PM   
from the IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL dept.

takyon writes:

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.

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Original Submission

• Re:Test environment? Re:Test environment? (Score: 2) by Justin Case on Friday May 25 2018, @01:29PM (1 child)

  by Justin Case (4239) on Friday May 25 2018, @01:29PM (#683999) Journal

  If something simply cannot be done, then you can't do it. So stop already. Don't release code you can't test. Just don't do it.

  But I doubt that's the case. If the guys with hardons for SDCs realized the only way we're going to be allowed to proceed is by setting up a thoroughly realistic test environment, they'd do it. If they don't have the skillz to do that, they are unqualified for this project and should be replaced.

  The excuse of "well damn this is just too hard so we'll have to start bouncing high speed steel objects off of human skulls" ... can't you see that anyone seriously proposing such an approach needs to be dismissed from the human race?

  Parent

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• Re:Test environment? (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 26 2018, @04:38AM

  by khallow (3766) on Saturday May 26 2018, @04:38AM (#684364) Journal

  If something simply cannot be done, then you can't do it. So stop already. Don't release code you can't test. Just don't do it.

  You're preaching to the choir. They can't build a good enough testing environment to forego real world testing, so they're not doing that. Instead, they're simply doing what can be done.

  If the guys with hardons for SDCs realized the only way we're going to be allowed to proceed is by setting up a thoroughly realistic test environment, they'd do it.

  The real world is indeed a thoroughly realistic test environment. And it's already there.

  The excuse of "well damn this is just too hard so we'll have to start bouncing high speed steel objects off of human skulls" ... can't you see that anyone seriously proposing such an approach needs to be dismissed from the human race?

  No, I don't. Instead, I see that this "excuse" is good enough. We're always trying new things and those new things occasionally hurt people. Let us keep in mind that this approach is extremely successful in the real world where it is most needed.

  Parent