The group, Uber said Friday that it is the intention to allow its autonomous cars to circulate in San Francisco, and refuses to comply with the request of the authorities in california who were notified Thursday that their presence in the streets was illegal.
“With all our respect, we disagree with the interpretation of the Department of motor vehicles (DMV) of California, the regulation of the autonomy, in particular on the fact that Uber needs a permit to operate in San Francisco,” said Anthony Levandowski, vice-president of the group, during a conference call with journalists.
“Although these (autonomous cars) are today considered as the nec plus ultra, they always need to be supervised by an operator, continuously”, he noted.
Mr. Levandowski has pointed out that, like cars, american manufacturer Tesla equipped with a system of driver assistance Autopilot, the person standing at the edge of autonomous cars Uber has the ability to take back the controls at any time.
In a letter sent to Uber, a manager of the DMV in california warned on Thursday that it was “illegal for the company to roll a vehicle without a driver on public roads as long as it has not received the permit” is adequate.
“If Uber did not confirm immediately that it will cease its experience and that he will ask for a license, the DMV will initiate legal actions,” wrote Brian Soublet.
This call to order was reached in the aftermath of the launching of a new phase of testing, this time at San Francisco Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) in mid-September.
Anthony Levandowski stated that Uber did not have the intention to seek authorization from the State of California, and who wanted to continue to support clients in San Francisco, despite the threat of prosecution aloft by the DMV in california.
According to him, it is “an important question of principle” on “the uneven application of the regulation in the State”.
The vice-president of Uber has stated that “conversations” were underway with the regulators, with the hope of convincing them that the autonomous cars of the group are not different from those of Tesla.
“We have a person sitting in the driver’s seat, and there is also a person right next to monitor the system and verify that everything is going well”, he noted. “They are able to take control of the vehicle at any time.”
17/12/2016 02:06:41 – San Francisco, 17 dec 2016 (AFP) – © 2016 AFP
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