Nvidia halts autonomous vehicle tests
Uber accident causes chip maker to temporarily ground self-driving fleet.
Following the fatal accident involving an Uber self-driving car striking a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, chip maker Nvidia has confirmed that tests of its autonomous vehicle fleet have been suspended temporarily.
"Ultimately AVs will be far safer than human drivers, so this important work needs to continue. We are temporarily suspending the testing of our self-driving cars on public roads to learn from the Uber incident, said an Nvidia spokesman. "Our global fleet of manually driven data collection vehicles continue to operate."
Uber's self-driving fleet has been grounded and now Nvidia's is, too.
The Nvidia announcement follows the grounding of Uber's autonomous car tests after the first recorded instance of a self-driving car being involved in a pedestrian fatality. Elaine Herzberg was struck and killed on March 18 at approximately 10 p.m. when walking across an unlit street with a bicycle by an Uber Volvo.
The Uber incident has also spurred Toyota to suspend public testing of its autonomous fleet.
