WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF
- The race to stay ahead can sometimes lead companies to do strange things but technology still has its limits
Last December, a self-driving Uber was caught on camera running a red light in San Francisco, shortly after the vehicles began testing on the roads – without the regulators approval. While Uber claimed at the time that a driver was at fault, a report from The New York Times has since claimed that the car, not in fact the driver, who Uber suspended, was in error.
The New York Times cites two company employees and internal company documents that reveal that the mapping programs guiding the vehicle in question failed to recognize six traffic lights, which allowed it to roll through a red light last December.
Shortly after the pilot project began in San Francisco California’s Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registrations of the cars after Uber failed to apply for a permit and the company then moved operations to Arizona where they’ve now resumed service and are picking up passengers.