Uber

Uber won’t be charged with fatal self-driving crash, says prosecutor Who is criminally liable when a self-driving car fatally strikes a pedestrian? Not the company that built and tested the car — at least not when it comes to Uber’s fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona last March, which killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. Uber won’t be charged with a crime, according to a letter, first reported on by Quartz, from Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, the prosecutor who was temporarily in charge of the case. “After... [Lire la suite]

Uber planned on running 13,000 self-driving taxis by 2019 According to court documents unsealed last week, Uber envisioned running 75,000 autonomous vehicles in commercial applications across a geographic spread of 13 cities – all by 2022. These extrapolations date back to 2016, and are part of the cache of documents that have been submitted by Walter Bratic as an expert witness to rebut Waymo’s valuation claims for the economic damages that it incurred due to a trade secret theft. Waymo had accused its former engineer Anthony... [Lire la suite]

Here come the self-driving taxis   FOR THE first time in decades, a futuristic transportation technology is on the verge of going mass market. It is not quite flying cars, but autonomous taxis—or “robotaxis”, as they are sometimes called. They will transform cities and business travel, and will hit some other industries hard on the way too. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, a tech firm, is planning to launch the world’s first commercial driverless taxi service early next month in Phoenix, Arizona. Waymo, which has yet to... [Lire la suite]

Uber to set up its own artificial intelligence lab Uber has aquired a machine learning company and set up a new division dedicated to research in AI.  Uber AI Labs will be based in San Francisco and its initial core will be formed ofthe team of 15 from recently acquired Geometric Intelligence, an AI research startup.  Machine learning will be central to Uber's mission of using tech to "negotiate the real world", the company said.  "It manifests in myriad ways, from determining an optimal route... [Lire la suite]

Uber seeks permission to resume self-driving car testing on public roads The company released its voluntary safety report in a bid to resurrect its AV testing program Uber is seeking permission from the state of Pennsylvania to resume testing its self-driving cars on public roads more than seven months after a fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona. The ride-hailing company released its voluntary safety report to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Friday, becoming the sixth company to do so. In it, Uber... [Lire la suite]

Uber’s self-driving trucks are now delivering freight in Arizona Uber’s big push to dominate the trucking industry took a leap forward today with the announcement that the ride-hailing giant is now operating its fleet of self-driving trucks on its freight-hauling app. The shipments are taking place in Arizona, where the ride-hailing giant is also testing out its robot taxis. Uber said it is using a transfer hub model, in which the trucks drive autonomously on the highway and human drivers take over for the last miles.   By... [Lire la suite]

Uber self-driving cars: everything you need to know The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its preliminary report into the fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car and a pedestrian in Arizona that happened in March. The preliminary NTSB report reveals that while the self-driving car had an automatic emergency braking feature, this was disabled because the car was in "computer mode."  Uber disables emergency braking to prevent erratic driving behavior, according to the NTSB report, citing the... [Lire la suite]

Autonomous Car Crashes: Who — or What — Is to Blame? The promise of driverless vehicle technology to reduce road fatalities hangs in the balance now as never before. Two recent deaths involving Uber and Tesla vehicles using driverless systems have raised the debate on safety to levels that threaten to significantly delay or derail adoption of the technology.   Uber has temporarily halted tests of self-driving cars after the latest crash, and so have Toyota and graphic chips manufacturer Nvidia, whose artificial... [Lire la suite]

General Motors to roll out fleet of self-driving taxis by 2019, ahead of Ford, Uber, and Waymo On Thursday, General Motors (GM) executives said the company plans to deploy a large-scale fleet of driverless taxis in large cities by 2019—making it among the first autonomous car developers to provide a timeline to their efforts, The Wall Street Journal reported. While Ford, Waymo, Uber, and other auto and tech companies have been testing autonomous cars, taxis, and trucks, most have avoided naming a date for official... [Lire la suite]

  The autonomous car industry has a perception problem — and now a group of related companies has banded together to try to solve it. Uber's fatal crash last month was the first self-driving car accident to kill a pedestrian. Then a Tesla Model X in autopilot mode left the driver dead after a fiery crash into a California highway barrier. Following its deadly accident in Tempe, Arizona, Uber halted all its self-driving testing, as did companies such as Nvidia and Toyota. A group of tech and transportation companies involved in... [Lire la suite]