Over the history of our country it’s been well-known those that make the most waves and challenge the way things are currently done end up being villains of the time but become heroes of the history books. Imagine the founding fathers of our country and the fact they were committing treason in the actions they took against the Crown at the time of the Revolutionary War. The idea to abolish slavery in the middle of the 1800s, the organization of labor forces in the early part of the 1900s and the addition of right for women to vote have all been fought for by fighting against the way things have been done in the past.
There are still many companies that challenge the way things have always been done to be able to create the differences we see in the world. In the automotive market technology is advancing at a rapid rate and we already have a company in Tesla that won’t put a gasoline engine under the hood of a car while also selling their cars in a way that’s different from all other brands on the market to give us something different that’s fighting against a system.
Uber is certainly a company that loves to go against the grain. As the pioneer of the ride sharing industry Uber has become the most popular way to hail a ride in many areas and has been solely responsible for some taxi companies going out of business. While many love to use the Uber services for their ride, this company hasn’t always been welcome wherever it’s gone and for the most part the leaders of this company haven’t cared much at all for what the officials tend to think about their business and the way they go about it.
Unfortunately for Uber this did bite them in the hind quarters recently as California officials from the DMV put a stop to the company rolling out autonomous taxis on the streets of San Francisco. It appears Uber didn’t possess the proper paperwork to be allowed to test and drive their vehicles in the state and therefore had to leave whit its collective tail between its legs. This hasn’t caused Uber to lose hope or to avoid California at all, but it certainly did put a delay on the company’s operations in this state.
While Uber spend time in Arizona testing its self-driving vehicles it did obtain the correct applications and permits to be allowed to test their autonomous vehicles in San Francisco. These permits will allow the taxis to be drive but a human driver must be present and alert to be able to take over when and if the vehicle isn’t able to perform the proper driving function in an autonomous manner. These vehicles won’t be used to carry passengers at first, they will in fact be used to generate maps of the city streets and create what can be used going forward by their automated systems on the streets.
Uber is committed to being allowed to operate their autonomous vehicles in California. With successful testing in Pittsburgh, Detroit and now in Arizona the plans for Uber include the ability to operate autonomous vehicles in California and once they have fully secured the proper permits to do so, they can start to carry passengers. Even those who have bucked the system successfully in the past had to play by the rules once in a while, which seems to be what Uber is faced with right now. Soon the Volvo XC90 models that are driven autonomously by Uber will be able to carry passengers and offer the rides needed all over San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.
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