Uber suspends self-driving car tests after Arizona crash

Self-driving cars, equipped with latest technology may have all the safety gear and features but at the end of the day they have to ply amidst human users and hence the ruckus. The latest high-impact crash in Tempe, Arizona involving  one of Uber's autonomous vehicles point towards a similar sounding case when Uber’s Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicle got hit because the driver of another car failed to yield.

In the wake of the incident, the cab aggregator has suspended the testing of its self-driving vehicles in Arizona, pending the results of the investigation of the accident.

According to the photos posted on Twitter, Uber’s grey self-driving Volvo SUV was lying on its side next to another severely damaged vehicle.

Uber puts the brakes on its self-driving fleet after Arizona car crash https://t.co/T0TCDzMGry #tech #digital pic.twitter.com/6VE7d4ztXE

— Rémy pichereau (@Remy_Pichereau) March 27, 2017

There were no serious injuries according to the police report. If the reports are true, it was the human driver who caused the accident. As per the Tempe police information officer Josie Montenegro, the Uber car was not responsible for the incident, and there were no injuries. "Another car driver failed to give way to the Uber car, causing the autonomous vehicle to flip on its side," read the police report.

According to Wired, a Human error causes more than 90 percent of the crashes that, globally, kill more than a million people every year.

"There was a person behind the wheel," said Montenegro regarding the Uber vehicle. "It is uncertain at this time if they were controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision."

A company spokesperson said, "we are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle."

However, after the crash, the company has removed all its self-driving cars from the road in Arizona, Pennsylvania and California.

The accident is the latest blow for Uber reeling under a series of setbacks in recent weeks including a number of high-level executive departures and criticism over workplace practices and ethics.