Point by Point Response
Arizona’s Republican governor repeatedly encouraged Uber’s controversial experiment with
autonomous cars in the state, enabling a secret testing program for self-driving vehicles
Allegations that any company has “secretly” tested self-driving cars in Arizona is 100% false.
From the beginning, Arizona has been very public about the testing and operation of self-driving
cars -- it has been anything but a secret.
The Governor's Executive Order allowing for the operation and testing of driverless calls was
signed a year prior to this email being sent.
Additionally, it was well known that companies were operating self-driving cars.
This article from four days before the email was sent makes it clear:
"Don’t be shocked when you see the car next to you speeding down the freeway with no one’s
hands on the steering wheel. Or no one behind the wheel at all. Self-driving cars are already
being tested on Arizona roads." Capitol Media Services, 8/15/2016
Also, from later in the article:
“The technology is here,” Biesty said. Both Google and General Motors already are
testing cars on Arizona streets; rideshare company Uber partnered with the University of
Arizona to develop technology.” Capitol Media Services, 8/15/2016
From other, earlier reporting:
More than a year after Uber formalized a partnership with the University of Arizona in
Tuscon, Google announced it will begin testing its fully automated Lexus SUVs in
Phoenix, Arizona. Recode 4/7/2017
Google is bringing its self-driving vehicles to Phoenix to see how the SUVs perform in
Arizona's sweltering summer. AP 4/7/2016
Cruise Automation, the startup acquired earlier this year by General Motors has
expanded testing of self-driving car technology to Scottsdale, Ariz. And they’re hiring test
drivers. Fortune 8/9/2017
The Governor has also demonstrated he will hold companies accountable when necessary, as his
letter to Uber this week indicates.
...(emails) reveal how Uber offered workspace for Ducey’s staff in San Francisco
This offer was not accepted, and no staff utilized office space during this trip at Uber’s San
Francisco offices.
... (emails reveal how Ducey) issued decrees that were friendly to the company...tweeted out an
advert at the company’s request
We think it’s a good think when private sector companies set up shop in our state. We’re proud to
welcome innovation to our state and regularly highlight the thousands of jobs and economic
opportunities moving to Arizona.

 While Arizona’s neighbour California has some of the toughest self-driving regulations in America,
other states, such as Michigan and Florida, are at least as permissive as Arizona, with few
restrictions and little oversight of highly automated vehicles.
It's important to note that the regulations in other states where this is allowed, like California,
would not have prevented this accident.
Ducey’s decree also allowed fully driverless pilot programs to take place on university campuses.
Uber could not have asked for a better order if it had written it itself.
The governor’s executive order first and foremost prioritized public safety, as with all initiatives
related to this technology. The order did not benefit any single company, but paved the way for
testing, which had already been occurring around the country.
According to its website, the (Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee )committee has only met
once.
The Self-Driving Vehicle Oversight Committee was established with the specific purpose, as
outlined by the governor's August 25, 2015, executive order, to advise on how to advance the
testing and operation of self-driving vehicles. That committee has fulfilled that purpose; first,
meeting to review the executive order issued by the governor and, second, meeting to review
federal guidelines related to autonomous testing put forward by U.S Department of
Transportation.
After securing the backing of Arizona’s governor, Uber’s next objective was ensuring its drivers
could pick up passengers from the state’s main airport, Sky Harbor, which falls under the
jurisdiction of the Phoenix city council. In May 2016, Craig Hulse, one of Uber’s public policy
managers, asked Danny Seiden, Ducey’s deputy chief of staff: “Who do you deal with in mayor’s
office on airport issues?”
Seiden provided some names and, the following month, the council passed a plan that was
favorable to Uber.
Bureaucrats in city hall were standing in the way of new transportation opportunities for
Arizonans. The cause of this was about protecting an entrenched industry, not helping Arizonans.
We are proud to support innovations that improve the lives of Arizona citizens.
In fact, Uber was already planning to quietly upgrade the mapping cars it had in Arizona to
autonomous vehicles. On 19 August, Chhabra wrote Seiden, the governor’s deputy chief of staff,
to let him know that “starting this weekend” Uber would “start testing some self-driving
functionality”. It was an innocuous-seeming email that in fact announced a major precedent.
“There will be safety drivers at the wheel, so won’t look much different from what’s already been
on the road but wanted to flag it for you nonetheless,” Chhabra said.
Remarkably, the public appears to have been kept in the dark. Because of Arizona’s regulatory
vacuum, neither Uber nor Ducey were obliged to inform the public that Uber’s cars would now be
driving themselves on public roads. Neither, it seems, did they believe they had an ethical duty to
do so.
Allegations that any company has “secretly” tested self-driving cars in Arizona is 100% false. The
Governor's Executive Order allowing for the operation and testing of driverless calls was signed a
year prior to this email being sent. Additionally, it was well known that companies were operating
self-driving cars.