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Uber resumes self-driving car tests on San Francisco streets
For now, it will only test two vehicles.
Two years after Uber suspended all self-driving car tests following the death of a pedestrian, it is creeping back onto San Francisco's streets. Today, Uber Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) resumed testing its autonomous vehicles in the city, TechCrunch reports.
The company will reportedly limit testing to a few weeks with two Volvo XC90 vehicles. It will only test during daylight, and a safety driver and co-pilot will be present in each vehicle. Uber is clearly, and understandably, proceeding with caution.
Uber ATG was granted a permit to resume testing in California last month. It's also testing in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Washington DC. Drivers are present in all of those tests, and after the fatal accident, Uber added additional safety features, including a real-time driver monitoring system, which sends an alert if it detects the "mission specialists" aren't paying full attention.
"We are excited to resume autonomous testing in Uber's home city this week," an Uber spokesperson said in a statement shared with TechCrunch. "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."
