zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Tech
/
Uber Lays Off Hundreds Of Workers And Shuts Down Self-Driving Operation In Arizona Following Fatal Crash
Uber Lays Off Hundreds Of Workers And Shuts Down Self-Driving Operation In Arizona Following Fatal Crash-April 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:10:37

Uber informed “about 300” workers of their termination earlier today as part of plans to shut down its self-driving car testing program in Arizona following a fatal crash in March, where one of the company’s test vehicles , according to .

The laid-off workers include safety drivers tasked with riding in and monitoring the self-driving test vehicles, according to the report. Uber’s traditional ride-hailing service will not be effected.

Following the fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona, where a self-driving Uber vehicle hit as she was crossing the street with her bicycle out of the cross-walk, Uber voluntarily pulled all of its self-driving test vehicle from public roads.

Once the federal investigation into the March crash is completed, Uber will resume its self-driving vehicle testing in Pittsburgh, which is closer to one of the company’s engineering hubs. Here’s more from Uber, via The Republic:

“We’re committed to self-driving technology, and we look forward to returning to public roads in the near future,” Uber said in a prepared statement. “In the meantime, we remain focused on our top-to-bottom safety review, having brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture.”

Uber’s self-driving test program began in Arizona in 2016 after plans to start in California fell through. At the time, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey proudly bragged about his state’s efforts to avoid the “bureaucracy and more regulation” concerning self-driving technology. Following the fatal crash, he signed an executive order halting self-driving road tests until investigations were complete.

Jalopnik has reached out to Uber for clarification on the number of workers laid off and its future plans for self-driving vehicles in Arizona, and will update this article when more information is available.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Tech
The Tesla Model 3 Goes To Production In July And Prototypes Aren't Completed Yet
The Tesla Model 3 Goes To Production In July And Prototypes Aren't Completed Yet
Elon Musk says the new sedan design was pencils-down and completed as of last summer. But documents filed by the automaker this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission sure make it seem like the sedan’s design is still in flux, and industry sources say the timeline to move the...
Apr 29, 2025
Faraday Future Hit With Yet Another Lawsuit For Allegedly Failing To Pay A Contractor
Faraday Future Hit With Yet Another Lawsuit For Allegedly Failing To Pay A Contractor
Electric startup automaker (?) was hit with a fresh set of allegations on Thursday—a 26-page lawsuit that says it failed to pay an electric company for work at the automaker’s headquarters in Gardena, California. It was the latest in a long sting of lawsuits against the upstart company that in...
Apr 29, 2025
Uber Used Secret Tool To Undermine Law Enforcement: Report
Uber Used Secret Tool To Undermine Law Enforcement: Report
Jesus Christ. In a whopper of a piece published Friday afternoon by , Uber confirmed that it designed a program to root out law enforcement officials investigating the company by denying them rides—in a bizarre, weird way. The program was called VTOS (that is, Violation Of Terms Of Service), and...
Apr 29, 2025
Self-Driving Cars Will Not Save Uber
Self-Driving Cars Will Not Save Uber
CEO Travis Kalanick has said the development of self-driving cars is “existential” to the company’s existence, but new financial data crunched by the ride-hailing giant suggests it won’t save nearly as much money as it originally thought. So much for the salvation that was supposed to come from robot cars....
Apr 29, 2025
Chevrolet Will Now Give You Unlimited 4G LTE Data For $20 A Month
Chevrolet Will Now Give You Unlimited 4G LTE Data For $20 A Month
Anyone who uses excessive amounts of data take note: Chevrolet announced today that it’s going to offer an unlimited AT&T 4G LTE data plan for $20 per month. Cool. The automaker announced today that any car in the U.S. equipped with an OnStar 4G WiFi hot spot gets as much...
Apr 29, 2025
The Volkswagen Sedric Is An Autonomous Space Caterpillar That's Really Chill Inside
The Volkswagen Sedric Is An Autonomous Space Caterpillar That's Really Chill Inside
This is the Volkswagen Sedric Concept. The name is a combination of the words “lf-iving ar” and not a weird reference to a . It’s also the “” which confuses me, since VW has had plenty of concept cars. What confuses me less is the space-cyber-caterpillar look of the car,...
Apr 29, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved