Uber lays off safety drivers in Pittsburgh

In a move that may raise more than a few eyebrows, Uber have laid of the safety drivers attached to its autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh.

Around 100 drivers have had their contracts terminated, as Uber re-evaluate its autonomous vehicle strategy.

Uber plans to create 55 new roles within the company, entitled "mission specialists" which will be a position dedicated to autonmous vehicle testing.

Despite the tragic event in Arizona, where 49 year old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg was killed by a self-driving vehicle, Uber are not abandoning autonomous vehicles completely. This is more of a scaling back and re-evaluation of its autonomous ambitions. SK