Uber Gets Kicked Out Of California, Moves To Arizona

Uber has been conducting what essentially amounted to unauthorized driverless vehicle tests in San Francisco, which California’s Department of Motor Vehicles simply did not appreciate. As a result, the cab hailing company was locked in a heated battle with the State’s Attorney General’s office. This predictably led to Uber getting kicked out of the state, prompting it to move to Arizona, which welcomed the company’s tests with open arms.

To Uber, beating everyone else to the punch in terms of driverless cab hailing is a matter of life and death. CEO Travis Kalanick said as much back in August when his company started aggressively pushing into the trend, ignoring the opinion of many experts who said that autonomous driving technology is decades away from being ready.

This would explain the company’s behavior when it entered the San Francisco market with its self-driving cabs, ignoring the warnings by the DMV and the AG office. Regardless, it seems that reason wasn’t enough for the regulators, thus prompting Uber to pack up and leave for friendlier regions.

In direct contrast to the California agencies’ attitudes towards Uber’s self-driving cab tests, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey was more than enthusiastic about the prospect of such a potentially lucrative opportunity coming to his state, Forbes reports. The state actually released a statement, essentially saying that Arizona supports innovation more than California does.

“Arizona welcomes Uber self-driving cars with open arms and wide open roads,” the statement reads. “While California puts the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation, Arizona is paving the way for new technology and new businesses.”

Uber also released a statement on Thursday to confirm that all of their driverless cars have since gone to Arizona that morning via truck delivery. The company also expressed gratitude after being received with such enthusiasm by Governor Ducey.