(SOUNDBITE) (English) STUDENT AND PITTSBURGH RESIDENT, GABY KOGUT, SAYING: “I think it’s a really really cool innovation especially at this time, but for me personally I wouldn’t feel comfortable being in a self-driving auto just because I’m one of those people that won’t really be able to trust”. There will be only four self-driving vehicles available to passengers, to start, and two people will sit in the front to take over driving when the auto can not steer itself.
Advertisement
Uber has launched a ground-breaking driverless vehicle service, jumping ahead of Detroit auto giants and Silicon Valley rivals with technology that could revolutionise transportation.
For now, Uber has no plans to completely replace human drivers with autonomous tech.
Uber also argues that its self-driving cars won’t necessarily put people out of work.
A group of self driving Uber vehicles position themselves to take journalists on rides during a media preview at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016.
Aldermen Ed Burke and Anthony Beale proposed the ordinance Wednesday in a City Council meeting, calling it a “preemptive strike” after Uber’s announcement it was beginning a pilot of self-driving cars.
The service is initially being offered to Uber’s “most loyal” customers in the city as part of the Uber X service, the company said in a blog post that was short on technical details.
Driverless cars will not be available to all of the city’s 145,000-plus users.
Uber has spent months outfitting Ford Fusions with self-driving hardware and software, including 360-degree radar, and a laser system that can detect obstacles in the road.
Companies working on autonomous vehicle technology worry about the impact of regulations on their ability to test and deploy their products.
What allowed Uber to get to the front of the pack was not auto engineering but rather its ability to accumulate and crunch massive amounts of data on road and driving conditions collected from the billions of miles driven by its drivers, Uber said. As the planned shift into driver-less cars slowly merges into the fast lane, Uber wants to ensure their self-driving cars won’t be more of a problem than they’re worth.
One engineer said that the challenge was a good thing. I tapped the brake, and piloted the vehicle around the truck, following the advice of the safety drivers.
Advertisement
“Today, we’re excited to announce that the world’s first self-driving Ubers are now on the road in the Steel City (of Pittsburgh)”, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Pittsburgh’s terrain – with narrow, winding streets and unpredictable weather – creates an optimal test ground, according to Uber. Industry executives are not in agreement on the timing, with some saying fully automated cars will be here in five years, and others say that it will take decades before it becomes a reality.
