Uber will end it's two-year effort to develop autonomous trucks and shift focus entirely to its autonomous car unit, which has put vehicles back on public roads after a fatal accident which halted testing for several months. 

In an email obtained by TechCrunch, head of Uber Advanced Technologies Group's Eric Meyhofer told employees the two units would merge into one group, focusing on passenger applications before freight. 

“Rather than having two groups working side by side, focused on different vehicle platforms, I want us instead collaborating as one team," Meyhofer wrote, according to a TechCrunch report. “I know we’re all super proud of what the Trucks team has accomplished, and we continue to see the incredible promise of self-driving technology applied to moving freight across the country. But we believe delivering on self-driving for passenger applications first, and then bringing it to freight applications down the line, is the best path forward. For now, we need the focus of one team, with one clear objective.”

The San Francisco-based truck unit, which began when the company purchased autonomous truck startup Otto, will "pivot" employees to other autonomous technologies and offer relocation to Pittsburgh, where the passenger car unit is based.

What about Uber Freight?

Uber Freight, a branch launched in 2017 designed to connect shipping companies with truck drivers, will be unaffected by the unit's shuttering, according to the company.