Uber to begin real-world use of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh this month

Marking a small but significant step towards bringing self-driving technology to the public, Uber will later this month begin offering some Pittsburgh customers rides in specially-modified Volvo XC90s, a report revealed on Thursday.

An Uber engineer will still sit in the driver's seat, and occasionally be prompted to take over in riskier situations like bridges, according to Bloomberg. A copilot in the passenger seat will take notes, and cameras inside and outside of the vehicle will record each trip.

Riders may not know they're getting into self-driving vehicles until they actually appear, but those trips will be free, and a tablet in the rear seat will explain what's going on. Uber is in fact hoping to discourage riders from talking to the XC90 drivers, in a bid to get people used to the idea of a driverless car.

While still a test in many senses, Uber's rollout is effectively the first public launch of fully self-driving car technology. Companies like Google have conducted road tests, but not as part of a commercial service.

Uber has expressed a strong desire to adopt self-driving vehicles as soon as possible. Doing so will allow it to dramatically cut its biggest expense — human workers, who need to be paid a reasonable wage.

Ford is also planning to enter fully-automated ridesharing and ride-hailing, but only in 2021. Tesla has suggested that once it achieves the same level of technology, owners of its cars may be able to offer them up for ridesharing, making their money back.

Apple could potentially go down a similar route when its own car arrives in 2021. While it's unlikely to launch its own service, the company recently invested $1 billion into Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, and it might be easier to sell high-priced first-generation vehicles to other businesses than a general audience.

58 Comments

TurboPGT 355 comments · 9 Years

About 8 years ago

AppleInsider said:

Uber has expressed a strong desire to adopt self-driving vehicles as soon as possible. Doing so will allow it to dramatically cut its biggest expense -- human workers, who need to be paid a reasonable wage.

Fucking disgrace.

Uber created an amazing job opportunity in the US and the only they are working on is how get rid of that rake in some more profit instead.

Rayz2016 6957 comments · 8 Years

TurboPGT said:

AppleInsider said:

Uber has expressed a strong desire to adopt self-driving vehicles as soon as possible. Doing so will allow it to dramatically cut its biggest expense -- human workers, who need to be paid a reasonable wage.

Fucking disgrace.

Uber created an amazing job opportunity in the US and the only they are working on is how get rid of that rake in some more profit instead.

And how did you think this was going to end?

dysamoria 3430 comments · 12 Years

Certainly not in a healthy mass transit system...

nolamacguy 4750 comments · 10 Years

their ceo has not hidden their objective to eliminate paying drivers.

maestro64 5029 comments · 19 Years

TurboPGT said:

AppleInsider said:

Uber has expressed a strong desire to adopt self-driving vehicles as soon as possible. Doing so will allow it to dramatically cut its biggest expense -- human workers, who need to be paid a reasonable wage.

Fucking disgrace.

Uber created an amazing job opportunity in the US and the only they are working on is how get rid of that rake in some more profit instead.

and this was not completely obvious from the start. The reason Uber can not make a profits is they pay out all the profits to the drivers. But drivers do not make all that much after expenses. Uber hopes the self driving car will run 24/7, but it can auto refuel and do you think your local gas station will pump their gas or hook up the cord.