In the wake of the first traffic death attributable to an Autonomous Vehicle (AV), Uber’s AV development unit was shut down for a time. But with some new capital being invested in this division, Uber is now back in the AV development business. In fact, Uber’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG), the division tasked with AV development, is now being valued at $7.25 billion after the investment by Toyota and Denso of $667 million and Softbank’s $333 million. Uber plans to use these investments to develop an autonomous fleet of vehicles based on the Toyota Sienna minivan.
Uber ATG will now be organized as a separate company with its own board of directors and CEO but controlled by Uber. Uber will have six directors, with one appointed by Toyota and one appointed by Softbank. This shows how seriously AV development it being taken by the developer of the technology (Uber) and its investment partners, Toyota, Denso, and Softbank.
In the meantime, Las Vegas has several AV projects currently in operation at this time including autonomous shuttles on Fremont Street and near the Las Vegas Convention Center, as well as a fleet of autonomous Aptiv vehicles requestable on the Lyft app, which have been in operation since mid 2018 and have recently given their 50,000th ride.
In fact, Las Vegas and the State of Nevada have been at the forefront of AV development for some time. Nevada legislatively cleared the way for on-road development of AV’s by updating traffic laws allowing for AV operation in 2017. The Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada (RTC) has aggressively worked to bring operational AV tech to the streets of Las Vegas. Their efforts in both building out an infrastructure to support AV’s and the previously mentioned shuttle services have moved AV development off the design table and onto our streets.
Ticket Busters will fight your traffic tickets
Keep checking this blog…we will continue to update you with new developments in AV tech as they surface. In the meantime, if you receive a traffic ticket in Las Vegas or surrounding Clark County, Ticket Busters is here to fight your tickets. We will represent you with the applicable court to negotiate your ticket. In most cases we can reduce your moving violation down to the equivalent of a parking ticket, which saves you time, points on your driving record, and the risk of being up-rated on your insurance premiums. Call us today at (702) 666-6666.
Learn More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/technology/uber-atg-autonomous-cars-investment.html
https://www.engadget.com/2019/04/18/uber-atg-investment-toyota/
https://www.wired.com/story/uber-recruits-some-rich-friends-drive-autonomous-cars/
https://news3lv.com/news/local/aptivs-self-driving-cars-hit-50000-ride-milestone-in-las-vegas
