Uber’s self-driving truck may have violated Calif. law by testing on public roads

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Updated Jun 1, 2017

Editor’s note: The following story refers to Uber’s self-driving car wing as “Otto.” However, the name Otto has since been shuttered, and the self-driving wing of Uber has been brought under its Advanced Technologies Group. 

Otto, acquired by Uber last year, may have violated California state law by testing its vehicles on public highways. Otto performed two legal tests last year in Colorado and Ohio.Otto, acquired by Uber last year, may have violated California state law by testing its vehicles on public highways. Otto performed two legal tests last year in Colorado and Ohio.

Uber’s autonomous truck unit in San Francisco will be inspected by California regulators over concerns that the company may have been breaking the law by testing its autonomous trucks on public highways.

The Department of Motor Vehicles and California Highway Patrol will be taking a closer look at Uber’s self-driving technology and meet with company officials to determine if its truck has been used in autonomous mode on public roads.

The inspection was prompted by the publication of an internal Otto document in which the company refers to testing its self-driving trucks on a daily basis around San Francisco, according to Forbes. (Otto was acquired by Uber last year.) This contradicts what Uber told California officials in February.

Other Otto information made public include testing procedures on autonomous driving prepared for officials in Colorado. The information varies from what Uber presented to California officials.

“Based on DMV’s meeting with the company earlier this year, they conveyed that the technology operating on California roads is not autonomous. This meeting will be a follow-up to that,” DMV spokeswoman Jessica Gonzalez told Forbes.

Trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds cannot operate autonomously on public roads in California.

A request for comment from Uber was not returned.