Consumer Watchdog Wants California DMV to Revoke Otto's Self-Driving Truck Permits

Consumer Watchdog, alleging self-driving truck company Otto is illegally testing its technology on California roads, wants the Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke the Uber-owned company's registrations. John Simpson, the advocacy group's privacy project director, said in a Wednesday news release that 21 companies have gotten permits to test their self-driving tech "with no problem. Moreover, self-driving vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds cannot be tested in the state under current regulations. Otto’s robot trucks fail on both counts. They have no permits and they weigh too much.” Consumer Watchdog, which filed its complaint with the DMV Tuesday, also said Uber can't be trusted because it's doing mapping operations in San Francisco with cars that aren't operating in self-driving mode. "Based on Otto’s behavior, there is absolutely no reason to take Uber’s word for anything," said Simpson, who wants Uber's car registrations to be revoked again. In December, the company began a self-driving pilot in San Francisco similar to Pittsburgh but the DMV pulled the cars' registrations after the company refused to get a permit to test the technology. Uber said at the time it didn't need a test permit because a human was either controlling or monitoring the cars (see 1701300012). The company didn't comment now.