2018 has not been kind to Uber, as the company was faced with a series of self-driving car accidents. Now, the Uber self-driving truck project is coming to a halt, just like the company’s permit to test autonomous vehicles in regions like Arizona.
According to Reuters, Uber has been investing in driverless trucks for two years now but plans to stop. It made the initial foray into autonomous trucks when it acquired Otto, a start-up making aftermarket kits for turning regular trucks into driverless ones.
However, the acquisition soon turned sour, as one of the top executives there was accused by Alphabet’s Waymo division of stealing trade secrets. That suit took a year to reach a settlement and it seems that Uber lost faith in driverless trucks.
However, the ride-hailing giant will still operate Uber Freight, an app that works just like the consumer-oriented one but for trucking companies. The Uber Advanced Technologies Group who was in charge of autonomous trucks will now shift their focus on self-driving cars. Of course, there’s also the self-driving flying taxi project revealed earlier this year.
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