Ride hailing company Uber has resumed testing of its automated vehicle technology for the first time since a crash earlier this year that killed a pedestrian in Arizona, including soon in Canada.
The new round of fully automated testing began today in Pittsburgh where the vehicles will be operated only during daylight hours, in dry weather, and at speeds no higher than 40 km/h.
According to the Reuters new agency, Uber’s experimental vehicles are also set to take to roadways in Toronto and San Francisco, where they will remain under the control of a human driver with a second person in the passenger seat. Uber said these Toronto vehicles are being deployed to help the company gather data on driving scenarios, and Uber will “only pursue a return to road for self-driving (in Toronto) in coordination with … local authorities.”
In that March 2018 fatal nighttime crash, a Volvo XC90 SUV Uber was using as a testbed for its automated driving tech struck and killed Elaine Herzberg, who was crossing the dark highway on foot. The Volvo’s automatic braking system had been reportedly deactivated.
In Toronto’s manually driven Volvos and the fully autonomous cars being used in Pittsburgh, Uber said the manufacturer’s automatic braking system will be left active at all times.
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