Added on March 27, 2018  The News Wheel   , , , , , , , ,
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Arizona Officially Cuts Off Uber’s Self-Driving Testing in the State

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Arizona has been something of an open sandbox for self-driving vehicle companies, as the government instituted a policy of regulatory openness to encourage testing. However, this was done with the understanding that the self-driving vehicle producers weren’t biting off more than they could chew, and had vehicles that could avoid collisions.

Collisions, that is, like the one in Tempe, Arizona, last week, when a self-driving Uber struck and killed a woman who was walking her bicycle across the street away from a crosswalk.

As a result of this crash, Arizona Governor Douglas Ducey has officially suspended Uber’s license to test self-driving cars in the state, giving the company’s pause in testing a much more permanent feel.

ABC12’s Bianca Buono tweeted out a photo of the letter from the governor to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on the issue.

For those unable to read that tweet, the governor calls the video from the crash “disturbing and alarming.” He writes that the top priority of the self-driving vehicle program in the state was increasing public safety, and that Uber has absolutely failed to follow that. He concludes that although the incident is still under investigation, the state was going to take action, and suspended Uber’s ability to test self-driving vehicles in Arizona.

He finishes the letter, “Arizona will not tolerate any less than an unequivocal commitment to public safety.”

This comes as something of a change for a state that has stuck to its hands-off approach to self-driving vehicles.

News Source: Jalopnik