Uber ends its self-driving truck program, focuses on autonomous cars

Ride-hailing company Uber is now reportedly putting an end to its self-driving truck program, in order to focus more on its self-driving cars.

Ending its autonomous truck program, Uber spokesperson has admitted that developing self-driving trucks was not required to stay competitive in the freight logistics industry. The company thus took the decision to shut it down and put everything into self-driving cars, initially reported by Tech Crunch.

“We’ve decided to stop development on our self-driving truck program and move forward exclusively with cars. We recently took the important step of returning to public roads in Pittsburgh, and as we look to continue that momentum, we believe having our entire team’s energy and expertise focused on this effort is the best path forward,” said Eric Meyhofer, head of Uber's Advanced Technologies Group.

Self-driving trucks publicly hit the roads

As per Business Insider, the employees working under the self-driving truck program will be shifted to other roles related to autonomous-driving technology. Also, in those situations where comparable roles are not available, Uber will provide relocation benefits or a severance package to those employees.

Meyhofer told the team, “Rather than having two groups working side by side, focused on different vehicle platforms, I want us instead collaborating as one team. I know we’re all super proud of what the Trucks team has accomplished, and we continue to see the incredible promise of self-driving technology applied to moving freight across the country. But we believe delivering on self-driving for passenger applications first, and then bringing it to freight applications down the line, is the best path forward. For now, we need the focus of one team, with one clear objective.”

The decision comes two years after Uber bought self-driving truck developer Otto resulting in the birth of Uber’s self-driving truck program. The firm has been under fire for its autonomous cars for the past few months after one of its autonomous cars killed a pedestrian in Tempe. The accident resulted in Uber halting its self-driving programs until recently when it returned the test vehicles on Pittsburgh roads, however, under human control for now.

However, Uber’s separate service, Uber Freight, that helps connect shipping companies with drivers, will stay unaffected by the decision. On the other hand, other two big names Tesla and Waymo are still involved in autonomous truck development, as per Mashable.