Uber’s Self-Driving Cars Arrive in Arizona

By Angela Moscaritol,

he rollout in Tempe comes after Uber pulled its self-driving fleet off the streets of San Francisco.  Uber’s self-driving cars are on the roll in Arizona.

Passengers in Tempe now have the option to get picked up by a self-driving Uber, reports AZCentral.com. For the time being, Uber’s self-driving vehicles will still have a human behind the wheel to take over if something goes wrong.Brave enough to try it out? Just request an UberX via the app, and if you’re in the right place at the right time, you’ll be matched up with a self-driving vehicle. If you don’t want to be Uber’s guinea pig, no sweat: just cancel the ride and request a new one. Prices are the same as UberX.

The rollout in Arizona follows Uber’s move in December to pull its fleet of self-driving cars off the streets of San Francisco after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registrations for Uber’s autonomous vehicles.

Uber had stubbornly refused to apply for a California permit for its self-driving fleet, claiming that since humans were behind the wheel at all times the cars didn’t need the $150 permit. The California DMV disagreed, and revoked the SUVs’ registrations.

Uber then loaded its Volvo XC90 SUVs onto flatbed trucks and rolled them over to Arizona, where Gov. Doug Ducey welcomed them with open arms.

Ducey was among the first in the state to catch a ride in Uber’s self-driving cars:

Google, one of several companies testing self-driving vehicles in California with a permit, is also operating in Arizona, with a fleet of Lexus SUVs supervised by the general public roaming the streets of Phoenix.

Uber self-driving cars are also on the road in Pittsburgh, where the ride-hailing service has been testing its technology since 2015.