Uber self-driving cars hit the streets of San Francisco
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Uber is bringing a small number of self-driving cars to its ride-hailing service in San Francisco—a move likely to excite the city's tech-savvy population and certain to antagonize California regulators.
The Wednesday launch in Uber's hometown expands a public pilot program the company started in Pittsburgh in September. The testing lets everyday people experience the cars as Uber works to identify glitches before expanding the technology's use in San Francisco and elsewhere. California law, however, requires a test permit for "autonomous vehicles," and Uber does not have one. The company argues that the law doesn't apply because its cars require a human backup—so while they are self-driving, they are not autonomous.
Making that kind of distinction is in line with Uber's history of testing legal boundaries. Although the company has been around less than a decade, it has argued with authorities around the world about how much of its drivers' histories should be covered in background checks and whether those drivers should be treated as contractors ineligible for employee benefits.
