Uber has resumed autonomous vehicle testing in San Francisco two years after a fatal accident in Arizona.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles last month reinstated Uber’s permit to test self-driving cars in public.
Two retrofitted Volvo XC90 SUVs hit the road this week, operating with safety drivers during daylight hours only.
Testing is set to last a few weeks, and will not pick up any passengers, according to The Verge.
“We are excited to resume autonomous testing in Uber’s home city this week,” a company spokesperson told Geek.com. “Our testing area will be limited in scope to start, but we look forward to scaling up our efforts in the months ahead and learning from the difficult but informative road conditions that the Bay Area has to offer.”
Uber launched its autonomous vehicle program in San Francisco in late 2016, but a week later was shut down by the California DMV. So the ride-hailing service moved to Arizona, where its self-driving cars were able to pick up passengers.
The March 2018 death of Elaine Herzberg in Tempe by an autonomous Uber car, however, resulted in the temporary termination of self-driving vehicle tests.
Nine months later, after receiving local approval, Uber restarted trials—only during daylight hours and at slower speeds—in Pittsburgh and Toronto.
Uber’s self-driving cars also operate in Dallas and Washington, D.C.
Since the Arizona crash, the company has revised its operator roles, installed an in-car camera system, and improved vehicle software, according to the San Francisco Examiner.
More on Geek.com:
- Study: Uber, Lyft Generate More Pollution Than They Displace
- Uber Test Lets Some California Drivers Set Their Own Fares
- MIT Researchers Teach Autonomous Cars to Predict Driver Behavior
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on March 13 with comment from Uber.
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