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Uber Self-Driving Car Crashes in Arizona

The crash in Tempe, Ariz., didn't cause any injuries, but it added more woes to Uber's already controversial self-driving experiment.

 & Tom Brant Managing Editor

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Following a collision that caused significant damage to an Uber self-driving car in Arizona last week, the company has suspended its autonomous driving experiments in Arizona and Pittsburgh.

A photo on Twitter shows one of the Volvo SUVs fitted with Uber self-driving tech resting on its side near another battered vehicle, suggesting a major collision. A Tempe, Ariz., police spokesperson confirmed the collision in an email to Reuters, explaining that a human-driven vehicle "failed to yield" to the SUV.

"The vehicles collided, causing the autonomous vehicle to roll onto its side," Josie Montenegro told Reuters. "There were no serious injuries."

Following the collision, Uber suspended its US self-driving programs in Tempe, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco, Reuters reports. The company resumed testing in San Francisco on Monday, since that program involves just two vehicles for research purposes and does not accept paying passengers. An Uber spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While self-driving vehicle collisions aren't unheard of, they're typically of the minor fender-bender variety. Google's autonomous test vehicles have been involved in several crashes over the years, including an incident last September when another car ran a red light and collided with a Google SUV. A more serious crash last year left a Tesla driver dead after his car, operating in "Autpilot," collided head-on with a truck.

Last week's collision appears to be the first major crash involving an Uber self-driving car, but the company's self-driving experiment has been mired in controversy before. In December, Uber was forced to suspend its San Francisco self-driving program after it refused to secure a permit from California's Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV revoked the vehicles' licenses, although the cars returned to the city in January for mapping and research purposes, instead of picking up paying passengers.

The provenance of the company's self-driving technology is also in question, following a lawsuit last month from Google subsidiary Waymo, which alleges that Uber used Google's trade secrets without permission to develop its own self-driving cars. Uber claims the suit is "baseless."

About Our Expert

Tom Brant

Tom Brant

Managing Editor

I’m a managing editor at PCMag.com focused on PC hardware. Reading this during the day? Then you've caught me testing gear and editing reviews of Wi-Fi routers, printers, laptops, and tons of other personal tech. (Reading this at night? Then I’m probably dreaming about all those cool products.) I’ve covered the consumer tech world as an editor, reporter, and analyst since 2015.

I've covered most major consumer tech events, including CES, Computex, Google I/O, and IFA. I've also appeared on CBS News, in USA Today, and at many other outlets to offer analysis on breaking technology news.

Before I joined the tech-journalism ranks, I wrote on topics as diverse as Borneo's rainforests, Middle Eastern airlines, and Big Data's role in presidential elections. A graduate of Middlebury College, I also have a master's degree in journalism and French Studies from New York University.

The Technology I Use

While most people buy a phone or laptop and stick with it for years, I’m lucky enough to use devices based on Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows daily as part of my job. As a result, I cycle through lots of tech in addition to my IT-issue work laptop. (Yes, that's a ThinkPad.) Personally, I’ve also owned a lot of tech products both cutting-edge and cringeworthy, from the Nintendo GameCube and the original MacBook to the Palm m105 and the CueCat.

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