Toyota Has Now Halted Self Driving Car Testing Too
Toyota has halted public testing of autonomous vehicles following a fatal accident in Arizona involving an Uber AV and a pedestrian.
According to Bloomberg, Toyota has decided to pause testing of its ‘Chauffeur’ autonomous driving system on public roads in the United States, as the operators of the vehicles may be particularly stressed following this week’s events in Arizona. In a statement, Toyota said the incident “may have an emotional effect on our test drivers.”
Uber was forced to halt its autonomous test program after a Volvo XC90 equipped with its self-driving hardware and software hit a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. The pedestrian was crossing the street at the time of the crash, and the vehicle was operating in autonomous mode with an operator in the driver’s seat. Authorities are still investigating the incident.
SEE ALSO: Autonomous Uber Strikes and Kills Pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona
As Bloomberg points out in its report, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi posted a photo on Twitter with Toyota President Akio Toyoda at the automaker’s headquarters in February. Toyota was allegedly in talks with Uber to partner on self-driving software, but it’s not clear if the collaboration is still on track.
General Motors also operates a prominent autonomous vehicles program in the US, Cruise Automation, which is testing a large number of Bolt EV-based prototypes in the San Francisco area.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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