Engineering news
Uber has announced that it will start using self-driving cars to carry passengers in Pittsburgh, raising the stakes in the fast-track race to deploy autonomous vehicles.
The ride-hailing company said Thursday that customers will be able to opt into the test programme, which will use autonomous Ford Fusions summoned by the touch of a smartphone. Although other companies are testing self-driving cars on public roads, this is the first time the public will get access to them.
The rides, which come with a human backup driver to handle situations that the autonomous cars haven't seen, will be free to those willing to take part, the company said.
Uber, which has a self-driving research lab in Pittsburgh, has no immediate plans to deploy autonomous cars beyond the Pittsburgh experiment. But its chief executive, Travis Kalanick, has said that without drivers, the cost of hailing a ride will be cheaper than owning a car.
Kalanik, in a Thursday interview with The Associated Press, said development of autonomous cars is paramount for the 7-year-old San Francisco-based company. "We're catching up fast, but we need to get to No. 1 quick," he said. "We've got to be laser-focused on getting this to market, because it's not a side project for us. This is everything. This is all the marbles for Uber."
Uber also announced a $300 million alliance with Volvo to supply vehicles and technology, and the acquisition of an autonomous big-rig startup in San Francisco as it pushes forward with self-driving vehicles. The announcements may push it ahead of its prime competitor, Lyft, which earlier this year took a $500 million investment from General Motors.
As part of the collaboration, Uber and Volvo will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones. Stan Boland, chief executive of UK-based autonomous vehicle software company FiveAI, said: “The global automotive industry is in a transition phase with the pending switch to autonomous vehicles very likely to reduce volume sales in the developed world but simultaneously increase the technology content of these vehicles substantially. With autonomy, there will be no obvious need to own a vehicle, instead a service model seems sure to emerge. As is shown by Volvo’s partnership with Uber, some automakers already have plans to adapt to the impending shift to a mobility-as-a-service model, but ultimately all automakers and OEMs will need to embrace these changes to thrive in the era of autonomous vehicles.”