To put that in layman's terms, self-driving Uber test vehicles are treated like any other car on the road; human behind the wheel or not. John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog, tells A.P. that Arizona's governor has thrown out his responsibility to protect the people of his state for a ticket on the Uber hype train.
Uber has resumed its self-driving program after another tumultuous weekend of headlines following a crash involving one of its driverless SUVs Friday, March 24 in Arizona.
While Tempe police pointed to the car with the actual human driver inside as the culprit, Uber suspended its self-driving program in Arizona, San Fransisco and Pittsburgh as it investigated the incident.
The company resumed the program on Monday as it voiced confidence in its program. Reuters reported the program's reinstatement by attributing a company spokeswoman who declined to be named.
The company launched self-driving cars onto the streets of Pittsburgh in September 2016, which represented the first time such a service has been launched in the U.S.
In Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill allowing the testing of autonomous vehicles on Michigan roadways in late 2016.
Arizona-based ABC 15 TV reports a car failed to stop before hitting and rolling the self-driving Volvo SUV. A person was riding in the unmanned Volvo, but police told the television station at the scene they were not sure if the person was controlling the vehicle or not.
There were no serious injuries reported in the crash.
"We may lose 35,000 people a year to traffic deaths," Karl Brauer, content director at Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book, told USA Today, "but if 10 people are killed by autonomous cars, we'll be freaking out."
The crash's connection to Arizona is newsworthy due to the state's openness to welcoming the self-driving program to its state with open arms. During its first day of service in San Fransisco in December 2016, one of Uber's self-driving cars was shown running a red light in a video captured by the dashboard of a local taxi service.
This ill-timed incident led to California's Department of Motor Vehicle ordered Uber to halt its self-driving service until obtaining permits. In a post announcing its program launch, Uber said it moved forward without a permit because they don't believe they need one to test.
"First, we are not planning to operate any differently than in Pittsburgh, where our pilot has been running successfully for several months," Uber wrote in the post. "Second, the rules apply to cars that can drive without someone controlling or monitoring them. For us, it's still early days and our cars are not yet ready to drive without a person monitoring them."
After the brush up with California, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey stepped in to get the company to test its vehicles in his state. The Associated Press reports Ducey, who took Arizona's first self-driving Uber ride in February, said "California may not want you, but Arizona does."
This welcoming message wasn't the only thing Arizona rolled out for Uber, as the state only requires minimum liability insurance policies to operate self-driving cars. Arizona also does not require the company to report crashes or report any information to the state, A.P. reports.
To put that in layman's terms, self-driving Uber test vehicles are treated like any other car on the road; human behind the wheel or not. John Simpson, of Consumer Watchdog, tells A.P. that Arizona's governor has thrown out his responsibility to protect the people of his state for a ticket on the Uber hype train.
Arizona and California's regulations are polar opposites.
California requires a $5 million insurance plan, and that the company must report any crashes within 10 days in addition to an annual report detailing the company's test drivers' training.