After California put its foot down and mandated that Uber, too, was subject to state regulations, Uber enlisted their self-driving truck startup buddies at Otto to haul their self-driving cars away. The California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the registration of Uber’s self-driving test fleet, claiming the cars lacked the proper testing permits for an autonomous vehicle.
Otto teamed up with Uber to develop their autonomous truck systems, and it looks like that friends-with-benefits relationship isn’t only there to prevent companies from ever having to pay real humans to drive. Several Otto trucks with visible self-driving sensors swooped in to haul Uber’s autonomous car fleet to Arizona, where the state is welcoming the test program with open arms.
While we can see a driver behind the wheel in Uber’s press photos, we do have to wonder: will any of the journey to less heavily regulated pastures be completed autonomously so those drivers can chillax a bit? After all, that would be one last middle finger to Cali’s high expectation that Uber like, follow rules and stuff for sure.
Jalopnik has reached out to Uber with that burning question and will update the post if we hear back.
[via Curbed]