Answers Sought From Uber on Deployment of Self-Driving Cars in Pittsburgh

Consumer Watchdog wants Uber to divulge more details about its plan to test self-driving vehicles in Pittsburgh (see 1608180059), including whether it will agree not to sell collected data and whether it has used adequate cybersecurity. In a Wednesday letter to Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, John Simpson, the consumer group's privacy project director, said the ride-hailing service needs to be "completely transparent" when it tests modified autonomous Volvos, which will have safety drivers behind the wheel to take control if needed, in the next few weeks. The group asked 10 questions, including whether Uber would "agree not to store, market, sell, or transfer the data gathered by the self-driving car robot car, or utilize it for any purpose other than navigating the vehicle?" And whether the company has technology to prevent hackers from taking control of the cars or any of its systems? Several other questions dealt with safety, such as if Uber will publish data from crashes or other "anomalous situations." Simpson said the company should publicly report all crashes involving test vehicles, release technical data and videos of crashes, issue monthly testing reports with miles traveled by the "cars in self-driving robot mode," and release "disengagement reports" detailing when and why human drivers needed to intervene. Uber didn't comment.