Uber Announces Driver-less Fleet in Pittsburgh
Uber is aggressively moving towards rollout of driver-less automobiles, announcing in late August the large scale deployment and testing of 100 driver-less vehicles in Pittsburgh. Uber is a logistics company known for its capability to match customers with drivers to perform a taxi-like service. The real-world testing of automated vehicles in Pittsburgh is viewed by experts as an aggressive step even though each automated vehicle will carry two safety officers. The Pittsburgh trials enable Uber to collect the real-world test data necessary to ultimately win regulator approval for commercial use of driver-less vehicles.
Consultants and regulators believe self-driving technology will require hundreds of millions of miles of testing in real-world conditions before being considered safe. Google, a possible self-driving technology competitor to Uber and its technology partners, has logged more than 1.5 million miles in 6 years. Tesla, also a possible competitor to Uber, has logged 475 million miles in 6 months from its partially-autonomous auto-pilot system. Uber has declined to release the amount of total miles its self-driving development program has logged.
The Pittsburgh fleet will use Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles and driver-less technology developed by Volvo. Earlier this year Uber signed an agreement with Volvo to spend $300 million to jointly develop a fully autonomous car that aims to be ready for the road in 2021. The Volvo agreement isn't exclusive as Uber is working with a number of Universities and is purchasing or partnering with other commercial developers of driver-less vehicles.
Why this news is important:
Uber recently announced a $1.2 billion loss in the first half of 2016 that is primarily attributed to paying subsidies to attract riders and drivers. Uber is growing quickly around the world and that growth is fueled by offering artificially low fares. Uber needs to transition from relatively expensive human drivers to driver-less systems to keep its cost structure in balance.
Links and Photo Credit:
Google Self-Driving Car Project, August 26, 2016.
Image from Uber
