Not even a week has passed since Uber introduced a fleet of self-driving Volvo XC90s to the streets of San Francisco, all in defiance of California regulators telling Uber to stop. Since then, the autonomous Volvos have been seen running red lights, ignoring stop signs, and failing to yield to pedestrians, obviously all dangerous and illegal moves. It seems there is one more problem to add to that list, as Uber has admitted to The Guardian that its vehicles have problems navigating through bike lanes.
Like with the other incidents, there have been first-hand reports of Uber's Volvos making illegal maneuvers through bike paths. Rather than making a right turn through a bike lane by merging over and then turning, the Volvos have been making quick, last-minute turns that could cause an accident if there was a cyclist in the way. Chances of such an accident are pretty good, as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation agency claims the city has more than 200 miles of bike lanes and tens of thousands of rides each day. The San Francisco Bike Coalition has issued a warning to cyclists to be on the lookout for Uber's self-driving fleet. They even provide a handy image that shows the illegal maneuver the vehicles are making. The group's executive director, Brian Wiedenmeier, took a ride in one of the vehicles before the mass release. He claims he witnessed the bike lane move first hand and reported it to Uber's engineers.
Uber has said they're working on a software solution to the issue, implying that it's a problem with the vehicle and not a result of the human driver's intervention. In the meantime the company continues to operate its autonomous fleet. The company says its vehicles have humans in their driver's seats and therefore don't actually break any laws and don't need to cease operations.
