Uber has admitted there is a problem with the way its autonomous cars approach bike lanes, which threatens the safety of cyclists near the cars. The vehicles have been found to cut across bike lanes when turning rather than merging into them, as is legally required. 

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition issued a warning that "those vehicles are not yet ready for our streets". 

Brian Wiedenmeier, a member of the group, said when he journeyed in one of Uber's autonomous cars it twice made an "unsafe" turn through a bike lane. "This kind of turn... is known to be one of the primary causes of collisions between cars and people who bike resulting in serious injury or fatality," he added. 

In response, Uber told its so-called safety drivers, who can take control of the cars at any time, to override the self-driving mode when approaching right turns on roads with bike lanes. Its engineers are apparently working on a fix. 

The admission comes days after the ride-hailing company said it would ignore the California attorney general's warning to immediately remove the self-driving cars from San Francisco's roads or face legal action. 

Uber refused to comply with the order on "an important issue of principle", claiming its cars will always have someone monitoring them, which is not required of the 20 self-driving car makers who have permission to drive on California's roads.

"It's still early days and our cars are not ready to drive without a person monitoring them," the company said. It also suggested the state shouldn't inhibit technological advancements with "complex rules and requirements". 

Within hours of being on the road, Uber's self-driving Volvo SUVs had reportedly driven through red lights and cut people off. The cars have been driving in Pennsylvania since September without contention.  

California's Department of Motor Vehicles said the company was breaking the law: "Had Uber obtained an autonomous vehicle testing permit prior to today, the company’s launch would have been permissible," it said last week.

"However, it is illegal for the company to operate its self-driving vehicles on public roads until it receives an autonomous vehicle testing permit. Any action by Uber to continue the operation of vehicles equipped with autonomous technology on public streets in California must cease until Uber complies."

It also emerged that Uber's annual loss may his $3 billion (£2.4bn) this year. The estimate is derived from losses of $2.2 billion in the first nine months of 2016, according to Bloomberg, and is in spite of revenues of $3.76 billion after paying its drivers in the same period. 

Earlier this year the ride-hailing business was valued at $65 billion following a fundraising round of $12.5 billion.