Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in USA to call self-driving cars from their phones, hitting a milestone that no automative or technology company has yet achieved.
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The move is the most recent sign of Uber’s ambitions for autonomous vehicles that can provide services to both consumers and businesses.
Uber’s self-stated goal is to have a fleet of self-driving vehicles so it can eliminate drivers. Ford Motor Co., for example, said earlier this week that it will have a fully autonomous vehicle with no steering wheel or pedals on the road by 2021, but it will only be used by car-sharing services and won’t be sold to individual customers.
Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, says: “Volvo is one of the most progressive and contemporary auto makers in the world”.
The trips themselves will be free, with a tablet in the backseat informing the passenger about the car’s capabilities.
The announcement of the $300 million program comes hot on the heels of Monday’s statement by the Ford Motor Company that they are also building a fleet of autonomous ride-sharing vehicles.
It will be the first time members of the public will be able to use self-driving vehicles, although a driver trained to handle the autonomous cars will be behind the wheel to step in if needed.
Google also is on a seven-year quest to develop a fully autonomous auto, which eventually would be built by an automotive manufacturer partner.
Recently, that valuation was about US$68 billion, placing the value of the deal at about US$680 million.
Current Otto employees would get a fifth of profits Uber earns from a self-driving trucking business.
To build out the technology, Uber recently agreed to acquire Otto, a San Francisco-based driverless truck startup.
In a blog post, Otto, an American company born from former Google, Apple, and Tesla engineers, says the 90-strong team will be “taking a leap forward by joining the Uber team”.
Uber and Volvo were two of the founding members of a coalition unveiled in April to push for a unified USA legal code on self-driving cars, a group that also includes Google, auto maker Ford and Uber rival Lyft.
The billion-dollar auto company has now partnered with Volvo in developing self-driving cars which will be available to customers at the end of this month, USA TODAY reported.
The investment will be shared roughly equally by the two companies. Volvo will use the same base vehicle for the next stage of its own autonomous auto strategy, which will involve fully autonomous driving, the company said.
So far Otto has tested self-driving trucks for highway use only. Roger Cohen and Kurt Myers, co-chairs of the committee, said Thursday that Uber has been an active participant in the task force, and they have no concerns about the firm moving forward with self-driving vehicles ahead of the recommendations.
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The decision is a blow to Uber in its long battle with drivers, many of whom have argued that the type of control Uber exerts over them constitutes conditions of employment.
