Uber users will soon be able to hail driverless vehicles, with the first fleet of self-driving cars set to debut in the US city of Pittsburgh later this month.
First reported by Bloomberg, the vehicles will initially be supervised by a driver who will act as an observer and take control of the car if required. According to Bloomberg, the end goal for Uber is to replace its one million drivers as quickly as possible.
A major aspect of Uber’s driverless debut is deal signed with Volvo. The $300m pact saw Uber and Volvo enter into a joint project to develop a fully autonomus car by 2021. Although Uber has said that it will be working with other auto makers in the future, the initial Pittsburg roll-out will see a specially modified Volvo XC90 sports-utility vehicle take to the roads. The fleet of cars, which will number 100 vehicles by the end of the year, feature dozens of sensors that use radar, lasers, GPS receivers and cameras.
The move will be a shock to others in the driverless race – Google, Tesla, and Ford to name a few – but Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Bloomberg that the development of such a car was ‘basically existential for us.’
“The minute it was clear to us that our friends in Mountain View were going to be getting in the ride-sharing space, we needed to make sure there is an alternative [self-driving car],” saids Kalanick. “Because if there is not, we’re not going to have any business.”
According to Bloomberg, Uber has no plans to develop its own driverless cars and will instead sign deals with auto makers and develop kits for other models. Speaking to the publication, Kalanick told of his belief that the Uber app can improve self-driving mapping and navigation systems due to the vast amount of data it generates. “Nobody has set up software that can reliably drive a car safely without a human,” Kalanick said. “We are focusing on that.”
People wishing to use the service in Pittsburgh will need a certain amount of luck to do so – riders for the driverless cars will be picked at random, with the trips free for the time being.
