A taxi’s dashcam caught this self-driving car running a red light on Third Street in December. Uber originally said a human was driving. (Courtesy photo)
Uber told reporters that a self-driving car shown on video running a red light in San Francisco last December was “due to human error,” and did not confirm its technology was at fault.
Now an investigation by the New York Times into the incident has seemingly confirmed the Uber car was in fact being driven by technology on the day of its launch, Dec. 14, and not humans.
The taxi dashcam video showing the self-driving Uber car running the red light in The City was first obtained by the San Francisco Examiner from sources at Luxor Cab Company, which quickly spread virally to news outlets across the world.
Just two months later, two anonymous Uber employees and internal Uber documents reveal the self-driving car was “driving itself” when it ran the red light on Third Street, near the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, according to the New York Times.
The Uber vehicles failed to recognize six red lights in San Francisco, and “In this case, the car went through a red light,” the documents read, according to the New York Times.
These vehicles also have Uber drivers and engineers as backups at the wheel of the car, according to various news reports, leaving it unclear as to why no one simply hit the brakes.
Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The self-driving cars drew ire from the California DMV, which said Uber did not obtain the proper permits to allow passengers in the vehicles and threatened legal action against the ride-hail giant. Mayor Ed Lee met with Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to ask him take the cars off the streets, citing safety concerns.
The infamous red light incident was not the only alleged red light an Uber self-driving car ran, as a tip to the Examiner revealed photos of a similar incident on Van Ness Avenue earlier that day.