June 13, 2019—On a 54-acre, closely guarded facility in Pittsburgh, Uber is building its return to autonomous driving after the March 2018 crash where a self-driving Uber hit and killed a woman crossing a street in Tempe, Ariz., according to CBS News.
Uber plans to test its autonomous vehicle on the street in San Francisco and Toronto later this year.
The fatal crash halted Uber's self-driving car program as the company conducted a top-to-bottom safety review. They added a second safety driver, and technology that monitors them for distraction. Uber resumed limited on-road testing in Pittsburgh last December, but most of the development work is happening at this test facility, the site of an old steel mill, where the roads are named after the famous kids program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Uber promises even if the car is doing the driving, the ultimate control will be at the passenger's fingertips. Now, there's a button passengers can press to make the car immediately find a safe place to pull over. The cars are also cautious: They operate at 25 miles per hour or less, a speed that allows the cars more decision time.
