California Auto Body

Uber Self-Drivers Return to San Francisco with Humans at the Wheel

Yes, Uber is bringing its self-driving Ford Fusions back to San Francisco, but this time with its self-driving mode completely disabled. They will no longer be autonomous, because the company got some bad reviews by the people of the City By the Bay and safety issues were a concern of SF's Mayor Ed Lee. 

At California Auto Body, we are fairly confident that self-driving cars will be a big part of our daily lives in Anchorage, AK within 5-10 years from now, so we're always happy to share blogs like these with you.

The futuristic-looking Ubers with fancy equipment mounted on their roofs are back in San Francisco nearly a full month after the California Department of Motor Vehicles pulled its vehicle registrations in a very public disagreement with the company. The city said that these self-driving taxis are not completely safe and to avoid a serious accident (possibly leading to one or more fatalities) Uber was forced to pull its self-driving fleet off the streets of San Francisco.

Now that Uber's Ford Fusions, which had been used in a Pittsburgh self-driving car pilot in 2016, won't be able to drive themselves anymore, what will the company do with these vehicles?

These cars will now be used for Uber’s mapping purposes primarily, according to the company. They are being driven manually now at all times and their self-driving systems are completely disabled, Uber said in a recent statement. 

The Ford Fusions were initially spotted all around San Francisco last summer, to map its streets in advance of launching a self-driving car pilot program. But both the self-driving car pilot and its mapping endeavors were abandoned after the California DMV rescinded the registrations because Uber failed to gain the needed self-driving permits. Uber, on the other hand, has constantly been claiming that the self-driving permits do not apply to its fleet. 

So, the the state told Uber--yes you can use these vehicles as mapping cars, but on the condition that they're used only for mapping, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The DMV worked closely with Uber to reinstate the registrations for five vehicles — with the complete understanding that these vehicles will be used strictly in a mapping capacity, according to Melissa Figueroa, a spokeswoman for the California State Transportation Agency. A handful of companies in California use vehicles such as these for identical purposes. So, if Uber decides that they want to re-examine the issue of self-driving technology on the streets and roads in California and SF specifically, the state is willing to work with them in that regard, Figueroa explained.

For safety's sake, San Francisco told Uber not quite yet. The future of self-driving taxis looks bright, but until everyone is confident that these vehicles will operate properly in every scenario, no one wants to take that chance.

Sources: CA DMV, SF Chronicle and AOL