Uber's self-driving cars are getting back on the road today, nine months after one of its autonomous vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona. The firm said it's resuming limited testing on public roads in Pittsburgh. The return of testing comes days after the state of Pennsylvania granted Uber permission to resume testing. A fatal accident involving a pedestrian and one of Uber's self-driving vehicles could have been prevented, a new report claims. An employee warned the ride-sharing giant that there were issues with Uber's autonomous-driving technology just days before Elaine Herzberg, a 49-year-old Arizona woman, was struck and killed.

Uber is to shut down its self-driving car programme in Arizona after one of its cars killed a pedestrian there in March. The company will focus its research efforts on Pittsburgh, where a number of AI car projects, including Ford's Argo AI program and Google's Waymo, are centred. Uber will also continue to test in San Francisco, where the company has its headquarters. In an internal email, the Uber executive Eric Meyhofer wrote that the company would be changing the way it tested its driverless cars. "When we get back on the road, we intend to drive in a much more limited way to test specific use cases," he said.

After one of Uber's autonomous cars in Arizona collided with and killed a pedestrian back in March, the state's governor temporarily suspended the program pending investigation. But now the company is shutting down operations in Arizona entirely. An internal email obtained by Ars Technica, Uber executive Eric Meyhofer gave the news to its self-driving division, noting that the company hoped to start its autonomous testing in Pittsburgh this summer. The shutdown will take several weeks and cost 200 local workers their jobs, reported the Arizona Republic. When the program resumes, it will operate in a more limited way: "When we get back on the road, we intend to drive in a much more limited way to test specific use cases in concert with our Software and Hardware development teams," Meyhofer wrote. Uber's standard ride-sharing operations will continue in Arizona.

Uber and Lyft might be the leading ride-hailing companies in the U.S. currently, but it seems that other companies are also making a foray into the market. Didi Chuxing, the Chinese ride-hailing company is reportedly setting up a new lab at Mountain View, California, which will focus on intelligent driving systems, artificial-intelligence-based transport security and self-driving. According to Recode, Didi wants to move its AI operations to California since it is gradually becoming a "Mecca of the self-driving industry" and has the talent pool available for the same. Didi first gained recognition outside China when it acquired Uber's China assets in August 2016. The company seems to be hot on Uber's trail since it has also employed former Uber engineer Charlie Miller.