Uber grounds self-driving cars after accident

Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving cars pending an investigation into the crash of an Uber vehicle in Arizona, a spokesperson for the car-hailing service said on 26 March, 2017.

No one was seriously injured in the accident which occurred on 24 March, 2017 in Tempe, Arizona while the vehicle was in self-driving mode, the company said.

"We are continuing to look into this incident and can confirm we had no backseat passengers in the vehicle," the Uber spokesperson said.

Tempe police said the accident occurred when the other vehicle failed to yield, according to media reports.

Self-driving Uber vehicles always have a driver who can take over the controls at any time.

The company grounded its self-driving vehicles in Arizona after the accident, and then followed up on Saturday pulling them off the road in Pittsburg and San Francisco, the two other locations where it operates self-driving vehicles, the company said.

The car-hailing service has been dented by a series of bad news stories, including disclosures about a culture of sexism, cut-throat workplace tactics and covert use of law enforcement-evading software.

A number of executives have left the company in recent weeks, including president Jeff Jones, as troubles have mounted.

-ANI