There are many companies working on self-driving cars but it’s still going to take a lot of time before you and I can purchase one. Many believe that it will be years or even decades before fully autonomous cars are made public but ridesharing service Uber is going commercial later this month. It has announced that users in downtown Pittsburgh will be able to hail a ride on a self-driving car later this month.
Uber has been working on self-driving cars for a very long time and for this service it has partnered with Volvo. The cars in Pittsburg will be modified Volvo XC90 SUVs that are capable of driving themselves.
It’s interesting to note that this deal isn’t exclusive and Uber is open to partnering with other car manufacturers as well for a similar service. That’s mainly because Uber isn’t interested in making its own self-driving cars like Google or Tesla both of which are rumored to be considering a self-driving car service.
Customers in Pittsburgh will be able to summon a self-driving car the same way they summon an Uber right now. They will be randomly paired with a self-driving car. Trips are initially free.
The car won’t be completely left to its own devices because there are still regulations in place that prohibit that. A human will be in the driver’s seat at all time but the car will do everything itself, the human will be there just to supervise and take control should anything go south.
Filed in . Read more about Self-Driving Cars, Uber and Volvo. Source: bloomberg