Consumer Watchdog Wants San Francisco Police to Monitor Uber Self-Driving Program

A consumer advocacy group wants San Francisco police to keep tabs on Uber's self-driving car program, launched in mid-December, but which now is only being used for mapping purposes. Consumer Watchdog Monday sent a letter to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee (D) to request Police Chief Bill Scott "closely monitor" the company's autonomous cars. “Based on Uber’s past performance when they flouted California law and put their robot cars on the road without the required permits from the [California Department of Motor Vehicles], there is absolutely no reason to trust the company now,” wrote John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog privacy project director. He wrote that Uber's cars were seen going through red lights when they were first deployed and the company blamed the human test driver. In a news release announcing the letter, Simpson wrote Uber didn't want to get the permits from the DMV because it didn't want to share information about its test activities. The DMV requires companies testing self-driving technology on public streets to file "disengagement reports" when the tech fails or test driver has to intervene, Simpson said. Uber Head-Advanced Technology Group Anthony Levandowski wrote in a Dec. 14 blog post that when San Francisco riders request an UberX ride, the company's lowest-cost option, they will be matched with a self-driving car, if available. That program was halted after a week when regulators revoked vehicle registrations since the company didn't want to get a permit for testing self-driving cars. Levandowski said at the time it didn't need permits since the cars weren't ready to be driven without a person monitoring them. An Uber spokeswoman emailed that the company is pleased with the similar Pittsburgh pilot launched in September. Self-driving Uber cars "are on the road in Arizona for internal use at this time, but are not a part of our public operations," she said. She pointed to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle that said Uber had several glitches with that city's program and issues with regulators, prompting the company to halt the pilot in December with the self-driving systems disabled and the cars used only for mapping.