On Wednesday, ride-hailing service Uber launched a test program in Pittsburg under which it will make self-driving cars available to the general public.
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According to 27-year-old Taylor Pollier, one of the Uber riders who has had the opportunity to avail a ride in the company’s self-driving Fusion, the vehicle “felt sharp” and offered a smooth ride to his workplace; and offered an experience similar to “taking an Uber any other day”.
But if they can, and other riders have a similar reaction, then the self-driving vehicle will be one step closer to going from science fiction to a realistic option for travellers.
Uber’s test program is the latest move in an increasingly heated race between tech companies in Silicon Valley and traditional automakers to ideal fully driverless cars for regular people.
Companies such as Audi, Nissan and Google have invested hundreds of millions of pounds and logged millions of miles test-driving autonomous vehicles, usually in more ideal locations such as California. And many automakers already have cars on the road with advanced driver assist technology, most notably Tesla. Others are adding autonomous features in phases, while relying on the driver to take over in certain circumstances.
If there are no more drivers, Kalanick said the ride would be safer, cheaper and more environmentally friendly as well.
The first public test globally of self-driving vehicles was in Singapore only three weeks ago when NuTonomy allowed members of the public to use self-driving taxis.
The company said on Tuesday that its six taxis – with backup drivers – have not had any accidents since the service launched.
The Ford Fusions that are being tested are endowed with GPS, over twenty spinning lasers that generate a three-dimensional map of the objects around the vehicle, cameras that detect the traffic lights and a radar system that is aware of both the weather and the conditions of the asphalt.
During the demonstration for reporters two engineers were seated in front – one ready to take control in case the auto encountered a situation it couldn’t handle, the other monitoring the car’s 3D map and scribbling notes on how to improve the car’s software. Driver less fleet will make Uber much more scale able and automated while reducing liabilities associated with the actions of reckless drivers.
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“We actually think of Pittsburgh as the double black diamond of driving”, Krikorian said. Uber’s landscape is the whole of Pittsburgh, a major United States city with very steep hills, old narrow streets and multiple bridges and highways built through the middle.
