Ride-hailing startup plans refocus on self-driving car effort.
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| © CNET Uber is shutting down its self-driving trucks program |
By Steven Musil, Roadshow
The company said Monday it's shutting down its self-driving truck program to focus building its own self-driving car technology.
[post_ads]"We recently took the important step of returning to public
roads in Pittsburgh, and as we look to continue that momentum, we
believe having our entire team's energy and expertise focused on this
effort is the best path forward," Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber Advanced
Technologies Group, said in a statement.
Uber is mostly known for
its ride-hailing service, which matches passengers with drivers through a
smartphone app. But over the last three years, it's ventured into
driverless vehicles.
Uber's idea was to have several transfer hubs around the county that would connect automated long-haul routes with drivers specializing in local hauls. The company had tested the trucks in Arizona and had begun to use its autonomous truck fleet to move freight across the state for multiple customers.
The
effort was born out of Uber's purchase in 2016 of Otto, a self-driving
truck company founded by former Google star engineer Anthony
Levandowski. But the acquisition led the startup to a legal battle with
Waymo, Google's self-driving car effort, which accused Levandowski of
stealing 14,000 "highly confidential" files before he left the company.
In February, on the fourth day of a closely watched trial, the two announced a surprise settlement in which Uber would pay Waymo about $245 million. Waymo had sought $1.8 billion in damages.
Uber
ran into more trouble the next month when one of Uber's self-driving
cars was involved in a fatal accident in Arizona involving a
pedestrian, prompting the state's governor to suspend Uber's ability to test the cars on state roads.
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The decision doesn't affect Uber Freight,
an app platform similar to its ride-hailing app that lets trucking
companies and their drivers connect with shippers. This app is already
being used in the trucking industry around the US, and Uber's autonomous
semis will be available on this platform.
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