Uber CEO calls Jamal Khashoggi's murder a 'mistake'; then backtracks

Uber's CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi expressed regret after calling journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder in the hands of a 15-man Saudi hit-squad a 'mistake' by the Saudi Arabian government. Moreover, compared the brutal killing to the fatal crash of Uber's self-driving cars on November 11. 

During an interview with an international media outlet, after being questioned over the director of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Yasir al-Rumayyan who is also Uber's board of directors, Khosrowshahi said that it was a 'serious mistake' that Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. 

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Soon after the comment, Khosrowshahi contacted the media outlet to admit his regret over the statement, which also received massive flak on social media. In an attempt to put it right, Uber's CEO confessed that he said something  'at the moment and that he does not believe Khashoggi's murder was a mistake and instead called it 'reprehensible' and that it should be unforgettable.

Saudi Arabia is Uber's fifth-largest shareholder while the head of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund is on its board of directors. Khosrowshahi had initially said that the way the company had recovered from its mistakes in 'self-driving cars' by halting their tests after frequent accidents and later marked Khashoggi's death. 

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Accidents of Self-driving cars

Earlier this week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) stated an Uber self-driving test vehicle that killed an Arizona woman back in 2018 had software issues. The safety board further also revealed that the company's autonomous test vehicles in the past 18-months were involved in approximately 37 crashes. The NTSB will reportedly meet on November 19 to discuss the cause of the 2018 accident in which the 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was killed who was walking a bicycle across a street at night. After the crash Uber had reportedly suspended all testing. In Pennsylvania Uber resumed testing again in December after a revised software and significant new restrictions and safeguards were put in place. 

Read - 'Uber Self-driving Test Vehicles Have Software Issues': NTSB Reports

The CIA in November 2018 had concluded that Jamal Khashoggi's murder was orchestrated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman himself. Khashoggi was killed, and reportedly dismembered with a bone saw, the Turkish media asserted, 

(With inputs from agencies)