Skip to footer

Self-driving Uber tests on hold after Arizona crash

Uber’s prototype was found not responsible for the crash, but further testing will be on hold until the incident is fully investigated

|
Mark Beach/Handout/Reuters/File
A self-driven Volvo SUV owned and operated by Uber Technologies Inc. is flipped on its side after a collision in Tempe, Ariz. on March 24, 2017.

One of Uber’s self-driving prototypes ended up on its side after a high-speed crash in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday.

Fresco News has a Twitter post showing the crash site and reports that there were no injuries.

While local police have confirmed that Uber’s prototype was not responsible for the crash, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg that further testing will be on hold until the crash is fully investigated internally.

There was an Uber engineer behind the wheel and one colleague in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash, which was caused by another driving failing to give way.

Uber began testing its Volvo XC90-based self-driving prototypes in Arizona late last year after it was banned from testing in California because it lacked a permit. Uber has since applied for a permit to test the prototypes in California as well. The ridesharing giant also has been testing prototypes in Pennsylvania.

The crash is the latest in a string of recent incidents that have troubled Uber. The company is facing several scandals ranging from allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace to video showing CEO Travis Kalanick arguing with an Uber driver over fares. Uber is also facing a lawsuit from Alphabet’s self-driving car unit Waymo over allegations of stolen technology and infringement of patents, and its President stepped down in March after just six months in the job.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Self-driving Uber tests on hold after Arizona crash
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2017/0327/Self-driving-Uber-tests-on-hold-after-Arizona-crash
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe