A year and a half ago, Uber set up an Advanced Technologies Center (ATC) in Pittsburgh with the mission to make self-driving Ubers a reality. Fast forward to the future, the company has announced that the world’s first Self-Driving Ubers are now on the roads in Pittsburgh.
The company is now testing out these autonomous vehicles giving customers the opportunity to get a ride in one of Uber’s self driving car in real life conditions.
A fleet of 14 Ford Fusions equipped with LIDAR, 3D cameras and a GPS system will be driven around Pittsburgh streets, with a fleet of Volvo XC90s in collaboration with Volvo to be added on a later date.
For a start, a safety driver will accompany Uber customers to make sure the ride goes smoothly. The technology is still at a very early stage hence the Self-Driving Ubers will need a safety driver in the front seat because they require human intervention in many conditions, including bad weather.
Even when these technology issues get fixed, Uber believes that ridesharing in the future will be a mixture of services provided by both drivers and Self-Driving Ubers. This is because of the limits of self-driving software and the skyrocketing demand for better transportation which people-powered transport is uniquely able to solve.
Source: Uber
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmofgf-Y3Mc
