The California Department of Motor Vehicles sent Uber a notice asking it to terminate its pilot self-driving car service in San Francisco last week, but Uber has continued to operate its vehicles in spite of that order. Now, the California State Department of Justice has followed up, with an order from the Attorney General’s office that adds some teeth to the DMV’s earlier request.
The DMV has noted that Uber would be subject to legal action in its original request for Uber to stop its tests and pursue permitting, as 20 other companies testing autonomous vehicles have done with the state regulator. But this letter insists that Uber “immediately” (emphasis int the original) remove its test vehicles from any public roads in the state, and that it seek out the appropriate permit before reinstating any use of its self-driving cars.
If Uber fails to meet these demands, “the Attorney General will seek injunctive and other appropriate relief,” according to the letter signed by CA Supervising Deputy Attorney Generals Miguel A. Neri and Fiel D. Tigno.
Uber has maintained that its vehicles are not truly autonomous and therefore require no permit, but it’s a difficult position to maintain then the ride hailing company has also been touting its self-driving tech’s proficiency to media.