Arizona suspends self-driving Uber tests.

In continuing coverage of last Sunday’s accident in which a self-driving Uber car struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona, the Wall Street Journal (3/26, Lazo, Bensinger, Subscription Publication, 6.8M) reports Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey sent a letter to Uber demanding that the company stop testing its autonomous cars on public roads in Arizona. The New York Times (3/26, Wakabayashi, Subscription Publication, 13.35M) reports Arizona had been allowing Uber to test its vehicles in the state if Uber “would prioritize public safety as it tested the technology,” and the letter, sent to Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, said, “The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation.” The Times calls the letter a “reversal from what has been an open-arms policy by the state, heralding its lack of regulation as an asset to lure autonomous vehicle testing — and tech jobs.” The Arizona Republic (3/26, 984K) similarly writes that in 2016, Ducey “issued an executive order welcoming self-driving car companies to the state without any special oversight.”

        Reuters (3/26) reports Ducey wrote that the video was “disturbing and alarming, and it raises many questions about the ability of Uber to continue testing in Arizona.” Bloomberg News (3/26, Newcomer, 3.41M) reports Ducey said “improving public safety” had been the reason Arizona was trying to attract self-driving vehicle tests to the state, but “Arizona will not tolerate any less than an unequivocal commitment to public safety.” Bloomberg reports that a video showing the moments before the crash “showed the Uber car moving at a constant speed with no attempt to slow down or swerve in the moments before the collision,” and both Waymo and Intel have released statements in the past week that their self-driving vehicles would have detected the pedestrian and responded to the situation.

Documents indicate that Uber was having AV issues long before Arizona crash.

Continuing coverage of the March 18 incident in which an Uber AV killed an Arizona fatality focuses on Uber’s issues with its AV technology. The New York Times (3/23, Wakabayashi, Subscription Publication, 13.35M) reported that Uber’s autonomous vehicle tests were “not living up to expectations months before” the fatal crash, based on documents seen by the Times and on interviews with people familiar with the Uber tests in the Phoenix area. Uber’s autonomous vehicles had difficulty “driving through construction zones and next to tall vehicles, like big rigs,” the Times reports, and its drivers “had to intervene far more frequently than the drivers of competing autonomous car projects.” In fact, “as of March, Uber was struggling to meet its target of 13 miles per ‘intervention’ in Arizona.” Waymo says its vehicles average about 5,600 miles per intervention by the safety drivers.

        Fortune (3/24, Morris, 4.04M) reports the Times report said Uber reduced the number of safety drivers in its test vehicles from two to one, “over the safety concerns of some employees” and despite the relatively frequent driving errors by the autonomous vehicles. At the same time, internally, “the leadership of Uber’s self-driving car unit has frequently been described as troubled, with high levels of engineer attrition.” There may have also been pressure on the autonomous vehicle developers to bring a road-ready system to market as soon as possible in order “to square the financial circle” of Uber’s finances “by taking driver pay out of the equation” and helping to build profitability at a company that “regularly posts quarterly losses with few historical parallels.”

        Business Insider (3/24, Matousek, 4.81M) reports Uber “has spent the better part of the past year cleaning up the mess left by former CEO Travis Kalanick, who oversaw the company’s meteoric rise and turned it in into a symbol for the ruthless, growth-at-all-costs attitude that has come to represent the dark side of Silicon Valley.” The latest hit to the company’s wider reputation in light of the pedestrian fatality means that “even if Uber can perfect its self-driving technology by mid-2019, when it hopes to launch an autonomous ride-hailing service, city governments might not trust the company enough to work with them.” Jalopnik (3/24, Werth, 1.22M) reports that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, “brought in to clean up Uber” after Kalanick was ousted, considered “shutting down the self-driving car project” entirely.

        The San Jose (CA) Mercury News (3/23, 514K) reported that the Times says Uber, “trying to reinvent itself after sexual harassment and leadership scandals,” was “under pressure to get its autonomous-driving ride-sharing program up and running for public use by the end of the year, while the cars were having trouble driving themselves safely and the company was reducing human backup.”

        Ars Technica (3/24, 686K) writes that “insiders have long viewed Uber as a laggard in the driverless car race,” but the documents obtained by the Times “suggest that the company’s self-driving car program may be even further behind its rivals than had been publicly known.” The San Francisco Chronicle (3/23, 3M) reported that according to experts, “neither Uber’s technology nor its backup driver seemed ready for the open road.”

Police release footage of autonomous Uber accident.

In continuing coverage of the fatal accident involving a self-driving Uber vehicle, ABC World News Tonight (3/21, story 10, 0:15, Muir, 14.63M) reported on its nightly broadcast that Tempe police released footage of the incident immediately prior to the collision. ABC said of the footage, “It does appear there was little time to do anything,” and there have not been any charges filed at this point.

        The Washington (DC) Post (3/21, Laris, 15.96M) reports that the video also shows the backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez, looking down “several times” prior to the collision. Uber said in a statement, “The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones. Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state and federal authorities in any way we can.” Tempe police said they cut the footage before “the collision itself due to the graphic nature of the impact.” Automotive News (3/21, Burke, 182K) says the footage shows the driver “did not have [her] eyes on the road.” Automotive News says their analysis of the video found that the driver would have had about 1.2 seconds between when the pedestrian’s shoes enter the light and the end of the video.

        The Los Angeles Times (3/21, Mitchell, 4.81M) reports that “speculation” that the self-driving vehicle was not at fault “may temper any public or political backlash” due to the intrinsic fear of new technology. The Times reports that evidence shows that self-driving vehicles are likely to reduce crash and fatality rates, but automakers will have to prove this to the public.

        Bloomberg News (3/21, Beene, Levin, 3.41M) reports Sunday’s accident is unlikely to result in regulators slowing the testing of autonomous vehicles. Bloomberg reports the Obama Administration made “efforts to streamline regulations to accommodate the emerging technology,” and the Trump Administration’s “aversion to restrictions and regulations makes it even more unlikely that the accident in Tempe...will result in significant new barriers.” Bloomberg says legislation supported by self-driving vehicle developers “sailed through the House with unanimous support last year,” but a Senate version of the bill “has since stalled amid calls for stronger oversight.” Bloomberg reports policy guidance released by Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao “used the word ‘voluntary’ 57 times.”

        Reuters (3/21) quotes University of South Carolina law professor and self-driving car expert Bryant Walker Smith saying, “Although this video isn’t the full picture, it strongly suggests a failure by Uber’s automated driving system and a lack of due care by Uber’s driver (and by the victim).” Carnegie Mellon University professor Raj Rajkumar concurred, saying, “The sensors should have detected the pedestrian in this case; the cameras were likely useless but both the radars and the Lidar must have picked up the pedestrian.” He added, “Though no information is available, one would have to conclude based on this video alone, that there are problems in the Uber vehicle software that need to be rectified.”

        In his column on Reuters (3/21), John Kemp writes that Sunday’s accident “will mark an important test of the technology but also of the ability of politicians, regulators and the media to think about risk in an intelligent way.” Kemp says that autonomous vehicles will not completely eliminate the risks of driving, so the issue should be whether self-driving vehicles increase or decrease the “already relatively dangerous” act of driving. Kemp advocates for “sensible and balanced safety regulations” which “requires a very transparent approach from the technology companies and a calm and reasoned response from politicians, regulators and journalists.”

        Additional coverage included USA Today (3/21, Garcia, Randazzo, Republic, 9.51M), NPR (3/21, 2.7M), the Los Angeles (CA) Times (3/21, Mitchell, 4.81M), Bloomberg News (3/21, Beene, 3.41M), Automotive News (3/21, 182K), Automotive News (3/20, 182K), Automotive News (3/21, 182K), the Dallas (TX) Morning News (3/21, Rice, Reporter, 982K), Cars (3/21, 842K), Car Connection (3/21, 120K), Car and Driver (3/21, 9.61M), WABC-TV New York (NY) New York (3/21, 299K), Jalopnik (3/21, 1.22M), TechCrunch (3/21, 688K), The Verge (3/21, 1.77M), Venture Beat (3/21, 78K), Re/code (3/21, 262K), Fortune (3/21, 4.04M), and WLUC-TV Marquette, MI (3/21, 2:11 a.m. EDT, 77K).