Uber resumes self-driving cars after accident in Arizona

Ride-hailing company Uber has resumed its self-driving car pilot program after an incident in Tempe, Ariz., in which one of its vehicles was rolled on to its side after a collision that wasn't its fault.

Local police say a self-driving Uber SUV was operating on its own when it was struck by another vehicle making a left turn at an intersection in the city.

Two human monitors were in the car at the time, but no paying customers. Nobody was seriously injured, the company said.

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Thedriver in the other car who didn't yield was cited for a moving violation after the Friday night crash, according to local police.

The company has been testing self-driving cars in a number of U.S. cities including San Francisco, Tempe and Pittsburgh, but all such programs were temporarily halted as a result of the incident. Early Monday, the company announced the San Francisco program would continue, since it is just two cars and they never contain any paying customers. The programs in Tempe and Pittsburgh later resumed as well.

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Autonomous vehicles are pitched by proponents as being safer alternatives to human-driven ones, because they are much less unpredictable. But the incident isn't the first time they have garnered negative headlines for accidents or other traffic violations.

Last May, a Tesla driver was killed when his car's autonomous driving system failed to recognize thewhite side of a turning tractor-trailer from a brightly lit sky, and crashed through it, killing him instantly.

Google's self-driving cars have been involved in countless fender-benders and have even been criticized for driving too slowly in some places.

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