Uber said Thursday it would deploy driverless cars for its ride-sharing services in Pittsburgh this month, pushing the envelope for the use of self-driving technology.
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Uber announced in May that it would begin testing the vehicles on public roads in Pittsburgh, which is also home to the company’s self-driving research lab.
Bloomberg Businessweek makes very clear what Uber CEO Travis Kalanick’s goal is: “to replace Uber’s more than 1 million human drivers with robot drivers-as quickly as possible”.
Uber said it is buying the XC90 SUVs from Volvo and is adding the self-driving hardware and software that it developed in its Pittsburgh tech center, opened just 20 months ago. The cars will have someone in the driver’s seat, and Uber plans to have 100 specially prepared Volvo XC90 SUVs on the road by the end of the year.
While Google and Tesla plan to manufacture their own driverless cars, Kalanick says that’s not in Uber’s plans, according to Bloomberg.
Executives at ride-hailing app companies like Lyft and Uber have long dreamed of having fleets of vehicles that can shuttle humans around cities without the hassle of actually having to pay human drivers.
Volvo will produce a new “base” vehicle for Uber that will be able to use the latest in autonomous driving technology, up to and including being fully self driving.
Though the Google vehicle project just lost its director, Chris Urmson, it has a big head start on Uber and others.
Self-driving technology is not ready for the masses.
Also, the vehicles will come equipped with tablet computers in the backseat area, which will explain to riders that they’re in autonomous cars.
In another deal, the company announced a $300 million alliance with Volvo to supply vehicles and technology. Some of the Volvos will join a handful of Ford Motor Co (F.N) Fusion sedans that will be used to start the pilot program that combines self-driving and ride-hailing in downtown Pittsburgh. We still don’t know how much will Uber pay for this acquisition ($680 is the rumored price), but this startup was founded by former members of Google’s self-driving vehicle project.
Mr. Marakby says the deal with Volvo doesn’t mean that it won’t work with other automakers.
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In addition to acquiring Otto, Uber also established a partnership with Swedish carmaker Volvo.
