Uber’s Self-Driving Fleet Logs More Than 1 Million Autonomous Miles in First Year
Uber’s fleet of self-driving cars has logged more than 1 million autonomous miles since the company started offering rides a year ago in Pittsburgh.
The company’s more than 200 self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, Tempe, Arizona, and San Francisco hit the million mile mark after giving more than 30,000 rides during the first year of the pilot program, the company said.
Uber said it was proud of the progress it made in the first year.
On Sept. 14, 2016, Uber launched a pilot program in Pittsburgh, offering select users in some neighborhoods the opportunity to ride in a self-driving Ford Fusion when they requested a ride through the Uber app. Pittsburgh was the first city in the country where people could catch a ride in autonomous car.
Uber’s testing eventually expanded to all users and the number of neighborhoods where the self-driving cars traveled grew. The company put self-driving Volvo XC90s on Pittsburgh streets later in 2016.
Uber sent self-driving cars to San Francisco at the end of 2016 but quickly pulled them off the road after state regulators threatened to revoke their registrations for not having a permit allowing the company to test self-driving cars in the state.
The cars were loaded up on a truck and shipped to Tempe, where they have been offering rides. Uber eventually secured the proper permits and expanded it self-driving pilot program to San Francisco in 2017.
Uber’s first year with self-driving cars has been relatively accident free. One car was involved in a major crash in Tempe in March while in self-driving mode. The autonomous vehicle was not at fault and no one was injured. Uber pulled all its cars from the road for about 48 hours after the crash.
