WASHINGTON: Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving cars pending an investigation into the crash of an Uber autonomous vehicle in Arizona, a spokesperson for the ride-hailing service said Sunday.
No one was seriously injured in the accident which occurred Friday in Tempe, Arizona while the vehicle — a Volvo SUV — 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.
The accident occurred when the other vehicle “failed to yield” while making a left turn, Tempe police spokeswoman Josie Montenegros said.
“The vehicles collided causing the autonomous vehicle to roll onto its side. There were no serious injuries,” she said.
Self-driving Uber vehicles always have a driver who can take over the controls at any time. Montenegro said it was uncertain whether or not the Uber driver was controlling the vehicle at the time of the collision.
The company grounded its self-driving vehicles in Arizona after the accident, and then followed up on Saturday pulling them off the road in Pittsburgh 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, cutthroat 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.
Advocates of self-driving cars say that they can cut down on deadly traffic accidents by eliminating human error.
But there have been accidents, including a fatality in Florida in May when a truck struck a speeding Tesla that was on autopilot.
An investigation found no safety-related defects with the autopilot system but concluded that the driver may have had time to avert the crash if he had been paying closer attention.
Uber grounds self-driving cars after accident
Uber grounds self-driving cars after accident
Oil prices rise sharply after attacks in Middle East disrupt global energy supply
- Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt.
- Attacks throughout the region have restricted countries’ ability to export oil to the rest of the world
NEW YORK: Oil prices rose sharply Monday as US and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes against Israel and US military installations around the Gulf sent disruptions through the global energy supply chain.
Traders were betting the supply of oil from Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East would slow or grind to a halt. Attacks throughout the region, including on two vessels traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Arabian Gulf, have restricted countries’ ability to export oil to the rest of the world. Prolonged attacks would likely result in higher prices for crude oil and gasoline, according to energy experts.
West Texas Intermediate, the light, sweet crude oil produced in the United States, was selling for about $72 a barrel early Monday, up around 7.3 percent from its trading price of about $67 on Friday, according to data from CME group.
A barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $78.55 per barrel early Monday, according to FactSet, up 7.8 percent from its trading price of $72.87 on Friday, which had been a seven-month high at the time.
Higher global energy prices could lead to consumers paying more for gasoline at the pump and shelling out more for groceries and other goods, at a time when many are already feeling the impacts of elevated inflation.
Roughly 15 million barrels of crude oil per day — about 20 percent of the world’s oil — are shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, making it the world’s most critical oil chokepoint, according to Rystad Energy. Tankers traveling through the strait, which is bordered in the north by Iran, carry oil and gas from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, the UAE and Iran.
Iran had temporarily shut down parts of the strait in mid-February for what it said was a military drill, which led oil prices to jump about 6 percent higher in the days that followed.
Against that backdrop, eight countries that are part of the OPEC+ oil cartel announced they would boost production of crude Sunday. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, in a meeting planned before the war began, said it would increase production by 206,000 barrels per day in April, which was more than analysts had been expecting. The countries boosting output include Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.
“Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for world trade, meaning markets are more concerned with whether barrels can move than with spare capacity on paper,” said Jorge León, Rystad’s senior vice president and head of geopolitical analysis, in an email. “If flows through the Gulf are constrained, additional production will provide limited immediate relief, making access to export routes far more important than headline output targets.”
Iran exports roughly 1.6 million barrels of oil a day, mostly to China, which may need to look elsewhere for supply if Iran’s exports are disrupted, another factor that could increase energy prices.
