One of several tech companies currently testing a self-driving car in California will no longer be using the state’s roads as a testing ground after a tiff with the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
Uber announced on Wednesday that the Department of Motor Vehicles moved to shut down its self-driving car program from the roads of San Francisco after the company failed to get the proper permit.
The DMV insists that Uber needs the same special permit as the more than 20 other companies that are testing self-driving cars in California. Uber claims it doesn’t because its cars don’t have as many autonomous features as cars being tested by its peers. This is despite Uber promoting the cars as self-driving.
We’re not talking a lot of money here, either. The permit is only $150.
This was the second self-driving vehicle pilot project from the ride sharing giant. It has been running a similar program in Pittsburgh since September.
Instead, Uber will move the pilot project to Arizona. It loaded up the cars used for the pilot project (onto a self-driving truck, naturally) on Thursday, and headed southeast. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey welcomed the move, making sure to use the press to get the message out that tech companies testing self-driving cars in the state wouldn’t need a special permit.
This isn’t the first time Uber has clashed with regulators. The company has also gotten into hot water for refusing to do criminal records checks on its drivers as well as insisting drivers are contractors rather than employees.
