The fallout continues around Uber’s experimental self-driving cars (that operate autonomously with a human also at the wheel), one of which fatally collided with an Arizona pedestrian in early March. The programs were widespread in multiple major cities, including Phoenix (where the program was kept secret from the general public and law enforcement), San Francisco, and Pittsburgh, all of which are in various stages of suspending the vehicles and mulling over whether or not to renew the self-driving permits once they lapse. Now, one Uber executive has officially left the company while this mess plays out.
The New York Times reports that — amid the debate over who’s responsible for self-driving car crashes — Lior Ron, one of the co-founders of self-driving truck company Otto (which was acquired by Uber) has departed. Ron was officially in charge of Uber Freight (which generally doesn’t use self-driving trucks), but Uber sounded cagey when quizzed about the timing:
An Uber spokesman, Matt Kallman, said the departure was unrelated to the crash in Tempe, but he would not elaborate on why Mr. Ron had left or the timing of his exit.
Uber executives have said self-driving car technology is a key to the company’s future. But the effort had become a headache long before the crash in Arizona. The company’s cars were struggling to meet internal development expectations and falling way behind the improvements made by competitors.
In related developments, Uber has quickly settled with the family of the Arizona woman who was killed in the self-driving crash. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed, but NPR spoke with a family attorney who declared that “the matter has been resolved.” What hasn’t been resolved, however, is whether Uber will shelve their self-driving car programs or continue to covertly test them while hoping for different results.
(Via New York Times & NPR)