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Uber Expands Its Self-Driving Car Service to San Francisco Uber Expands Self-Driving Car Service to San Francisco. DMV Says It’s Illegal.
(about 7 hours later)
SAN FRANCISCO — Uber has always had a special relationship with this city. The ride-hailing company was founded and headquartered here. In its early days, one of the towns where Uber grew fastest was its hometown. SAN FRANCISCO — Uber made a big splash in its hometown on Wednesday when it started offering self-driving car service to passengers here, making San Francisco the second city in the world where the ride-hailing company provides autonomous vehicles for public use.
On Wednesday, Uber again highlighted its special relationship with San Francisco. The company has started offering its self-driving car service to passengers here, making it the second place in the world where Uber offers autonomous vehicles for public use. But California regulators made an even bigger splash late Wednesday when they told Uber to stop the service because it was illegal. The company, the officials said, did not have the necessary state permits for autonomous driving.
It also marks the debut of the XC90 self-driving car, a Volvo sport utility vehicle outfitted with lidar, a kind of radar based on laser beams; wireless technology; and seven different cameras. It was produced in collaboration with Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center, the company’s driverless tech division based in Pittsburgh. Uber began offering self-driving car service in Pittsburgh this year. “It is illegal for the company to operate its self-driving vehicles on public roads until it receives an autonomous vehicle testing permit,” Brian G. Soublet, deputy director of California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, said in a letter to Uber. “Any action by Uber to continue the operation of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology on public streets in California must cease until Uber complies.”
“The promise of self-driving is core to our mission of reliable transportation, everywhere for everyone,” Anthony Levandowski, Uber’s vice president of self-driving technology, said in a blog post. Uber did not return a request for comment about the letter.
The rollout in San Francisco is another step by Uber to improve its driverless automobile technology, which the company soon hopes to put into cars beyond the XC90 and Ford Fusion. Uber is racing to get its self-driving technology out widely before its rivals, as many large tech competitors are trying to bring autonomous vehicles to consumers on a broad scale. The development was an embarrassing twist for Uber, which had set up its San Francisco driverless-car rollout as a big event, especially as it competes with other tech rivals to bring autonomous vehicles to consumers. The debut here, where Uber was founded and has its headquarters, was also a larger rollout in terms of size than in Pittsburgh, where the company introduced its first driverless service in September.
On Tuesday, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, said it would spin off its self-driving research wing into a stand-alone company called Waymo, a signal that the project may be nearing commercialization after years of internal testing. Apple is in the midst of rethinking its automotive strategy. And companies like Tesla and Lyft continue to work on self-driving software. Even before the service began in San Francisco, questions arose over whether Uber was allowed to test its driverless technology in the city. As of Dec. 8, the company’s name was not listed on the D.M.V.’s website as having a permit to test the vehicles in the state. Companies like Google, Tesla and General Motors all hold permits to test autonomous vehicles in California.
Uber debuted its self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh in September after months of testing. The launch was limited, with a small number of vehicles offered to some of Uber’s most frequent passengers in a few square miles of the city. When asked, Uber said that it was compliant with all federal and state laws. In California, it said, the motor vehicle department defines autonomous vehicles as those that drive “without the active physical control or monitoring of a natural person.” Uber said its self-driving cars, which require a person at the wheel to monitor or control them, did not fall under that strict definition.
San Francisco’s rollout will be on a larger scale. Starting Wednesday, any passenger who requests a ride from UberX, one of the cheaper options of the service, may be picked up by an autonomous vehicle. Those chosen will receive a notification inside the Uber app, where they can accept, or cancel and request a regular driver. A company engineer sits behind the wheel in each self-driving vehicle and can take over when needed. The dispute was a reminder that Uber has not expanded its service without regulatory hassles. As it has grown, it has run into battles with the authorities worldwide, with regulators often contending that Uber had a dearth of licensed drivers, among other issues.
Three passengers will be able to fit into the XC90 vehicles. Riders will be able to play with a large touch screen that displays the route the car is taking, as well as a rendered version of the environment the car sees through its cameras and laser guidance systems. Uber also lets passengers take selfies from a camera facing the back seat, which they can email to themselves and share on social media. Uber began Wednesday with Anthony Levandowski, its vice president of self-driving technology, saying in a blog post that “the promise of self-driving is core to our mission of reliable transportation, everywhere for everyone.”
It is unclear if Uber is allowed to test its driverless vehicle technology within San Francisco. As of Dec. 8, the company’s name was not listed on California’s Department of Motor Vehicles website as one that held a permit to test autonomous vehicles in the state. Other companies, including Google, Tesla and General Motors, all hold permits to test autonomous vehicles in California. The new driverless car service here also coincided with the debut of the XC90 self-driving car, a Volvo sport utility vehicle outfitted with lidar — a kind of radar based on laser beams, wireless technology and seven cameras. It was produced with Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center, the company’s driverless tech division based in Pittsburgh.
“All of our vehicles are compliant with applicable federal and state laws,” an Uber spokeswoman said in a statement. For a while on Wednesday, any San Francisco passenger who requested a ride from UberX, one of the service’s cheaper options, might have been picked up by an autonomous vehicle. They would have received a notification in the Uber app, and could accept or cancel and request a regular driver. An engineer behind the wheel in each self-driving vehicle could take over when needed.
The company said that under California’s D.M.V. definition, autonomous vehicles are those that drive “without the active physical control or monitoring of a natural person.” Uber said its self-driving cars, which require a human behind the wheel to monitor or control them, did not fall under that strict definition. Three passengers were able to fit into the XC90 vehicles. Riders could use with a large touch screen that displayed the car’s route, as well as a rendered version of the environment the car saw through its cameras and laser guidance systems. Uber also let passengers take selfies from a camera facing the back seat, which they can email to themselves and share on social media.
In a statement, the California D.M.V. said, “20 manufacturers have already obtained permits to test hundreds of cars on California roads. Uber shall do the same.” Uber wanted to use the expansion of the program to test routes and terrain beyond what it experienced in Pittsburgh.
Besides the desire to offer self-driving cars in its home city, Uber is using the expansion of the autonomous vehicle program to test routes and terrain beyond what it experienced in Pittsburgh. “We drove in the rain and other kinds of weather, and we’ve added lane-changing capabilities since we started in September,” Mr. Levandowski said in an interview, adding that Uber has faced no major issues in its testing in Pennsylvania thus far. “Now we want to see how we operate in this new environment, especially with the giant hills that San Francisco has to offer.”
“We drove in the rain and other kinds of weather, and we’ve added lane-changing capabilities since we started in September,” Mr. Levandowski said in an interview, adding that Uber has faced no major issues in its testing in Pennsylvania thus far. Uber may have gotten more than it bargained for. Shortly after the service began, one of its Volvo XC90s ran a red light, and was caught on camera. The episode raised questions about the safety of Uber’s self-driving technology.
San Francisco, of course, is known for its earthquakes and is famously hillier than many American cities. “This incident was due to human error,” Uber said in a statement about the video, which was posted to YouTube. “This vehicle was not part of the pilot and was not carrying customers. The driver involved has been suspended while we continue to investigate.”
“Now we want to see how we operate in this new environment, especially with the giant hills that San Francisco has to offer,” Mr. Levandowski said.