Autonomous

Since the Uber accident in March, autonomous car researchers’ eyes have been opening to the need to teach robots how to drive in the dark and avoid people who wander into the road.

Uber Technologies Inc.’s self-driving vehicle wasn’t programmed to stop for obstructions in its path, including the pedestrian it struck and killed last March in Arizona, according to federal investigators.

Uber Technologies Inc. confirmed it is shutting down its autonomous vehicle operations in Arizona, including its self-driving trucks, two months after one of its self-driving passenger cars struck and killed a pedestrian in the state.

Uber is shutting down testing operations in Arizona and focusing instead on testing in Pittsburgh and San Francisco, according to an internal e-mail from Eric Meyhofer, a Carnegie Mellon University graduate and the head of Uber’s self-driving car operations.

Consumer trust in self-driving cars has plummeted after high-profile roadway fatalities, with almost three-quarters of Americans now saying they are too afraid to ride in an autonomous vehicle, according to a new survey.

Amazon.com wowed the world in 2013 with a video purporting to show what the future of the delivery industry would look like. But are we any closer to that now? The answer seems to be no — at least in Japan.

Trucking industry leaders from around the world are facing many of the same issues as their counterparts in the United States, including the emergence of advanced driver-assistance systems and combating a persistent shortage of drivers.

Just last year, Apple was in the backseat of an increasingly crowded competition for self-driving cars with Google-owned Waymo, Tesla and Uber vying for an edge.

Cars that drive themselves are finding the clearest paths to showrooms in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea and Singapore, where governments have enacted legislation allowing autonomous vehicles to be tested on public roads. And China’s not far behind.

Downtown Las Vegas is under construction. The consistent rise in tourism and population persuaded city and state officials to invest in wider roadways, additional transit and walkability options, and improve connectivity across freight corridors.