WASHINGTON – Uber Technologies Inc.’s autonomous test vehicles were involved in 37 crashes in the 18 months before a fatal March 2018 self-driving car incident in Tempe, Ariz., the National Transportation Safety Board said on Tuesday.
The board said between September 2016 and March 2018, there were 37 crashes of Uber vehicles in autonomous mode at the time, including 33 that involved another vehicle striking test vehicles.
In one incident, the test vehicle struck a bent bicycle lane bollard that partially occupied the test vehicle’s lane of travel. In another incident, the operator took control to avoid a rapidly approaching oncoming vehicle that entered its lane of travel. The vehicle operator steered away and struck a parked car. The NTSB on Nov. 19 will hold a probable cause hearing on the Arizona crash.