Uber Preparing to use Semi-Autonomous Cars for Rides in Pittsburgh
In a matter of days, Uber customers in Pittsburgh will be able to ride in semi-autonomous cars to get from one destination to the other. While the cars will be mostly driverless, they will have someone in the driver’s seat monitoring the ride, and that driver will have the power to take control of the car in the event of an emergency.
The cars are modified Volvo XC90 SUVs. By the end of the year, Volvo is expected to complete an order of 100 cars for Uber to use. Uber also plans to work with other automakers in a hope to get as many cars out on the street as possible.
While Uber will initially have drivers in the car monitoring the drives, they plan to have fully autonomous cars on the road by 2021 if all goes well.
“The goal is to wean us off of having drivers in the car,” said Travis Kalanick, Uber co-founder and CEO, in an interview with Bloomberg.
With the technology still in its development and adjusting phase, humans will play an integral role in the initial testing of the cars. The present cars have difficulty navigating certain situation, like going over bridges, so the cars will transfer control over to the driver in those instances. The hope is that extremely detailed maps will alleviate these issues going forward. Humans will help with this process, as the cars currently being driven on the road collect data during their drives.
Although the plan right now is to eventually have driverless cars as the primary, or only, option for Uber rides, Kalanick recognizes the importance of the human aspect in the development of technologies that will make that idea a reality.
“Nobody has set up software that can reliably drive a car safely without a human,” said Kalanick. “We are focusing on that.”
To help get these cars to full autonomy, Uber will also enlist the help of a company called Otto, a driverless truck startup that Uber is in the process of acquiring. Co-founder of Otto and former Google employee Anthony Levandowski will take over Uber’s driverless operations once the deal between the two companies is complete.
The process of requesting an Uber will not be any different, as customers will still order their ride by the app. But the initial testing of the cars will be free. Representatives involved in the project hope that the prices for the rides in autonomous vehicles will be cheaper and more affordable than their human-driven counterparts, even for long trips.
