Fears over safety of Uber’s self-driving cars as taxi jumps a red light and narrowly avoids ploughing into pedestrians on FIRST DAY of trial
The car charged through a red light in San Francisco
WORRYING video footage has captured the moment a self-driving Uber cab ran a red light - on the same day the firm launched its fleet of self-driving cars.
Dashcam footage belonging to a fellow motorist shows the Volvo charging through the red light in San Francisco, just as a pedestrian steps onto the crossing.
Fortunately there was no collision - but government officials from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) demanded the trial be ended immediately.
All of Uber's self-driving cars - which were first launched in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - have a human operator who can take control at any time.
A spokesman for the company said: "For us, it's still early days and our cars are not yet ready to drive without a person monitoring them."
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However, human error was actually blamed for this particular incident, the reported.
Uber are also facing problems in the state of California as the DMV argues it needs testing permits for the self-driving cars.
However, Uber believes the presence of a human operator means the cars do not class as 'autonomous' in the same way as self-driving vehicles from the likes of Google, Tesla and Ford do.
In a blog post, the firm expressed hope that officials will relax their rules.
It said: "Several cities and states have recognised that complex rules and requirements could have the unintended consequence of slowing innovation.
"Our hope is that California, our home state and a leader in much of the world's dynamism, will take a similar view."
Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Brake, the road safety charity, told The Sun Online: “Brake supports the safe and regulated development of driverless vehicles.
"It is important that this technology is carefully monitored and updated so that it doesn’t add to deaths or serious injuries on those roads.”
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