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Uber’s First Self-Driving Cars Arrive in Pittsburgh This Month

The popular ride app Uber plans to introduce self-driving cars in Pittsburgh as early as this month. This bold move is the first phase of a pilot program that aims to explore the bright future of the convenient technology. The innovative company is planning to experiment on Uber and Volvo by testing a hundred Volvo XC90s that are outfitted to drive themselves. The Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles will be modified and outfitted with numerous sensors that utilize lasers, radar, GPS receivers and cameras.

The cars will be accompanied by 2 human beings, one will be an engineer who is capable of taking control of the vehicle whenever the need arises. The professionally trained engineers will sit with their fingertips always on the wheel. This will enable them to readily take control of the vehicle in case an unexpected obstacle is encountered. The other person will merely be a co-pilot who sole purpose is to take notes on a laptop. Everything else that happens is recorded through cameras that are located inside and outside the vehicle in an attempt to iron out any glitches. Every car will also have a tablet computer located at the back seat, this serves to inform riders that they are in an autonomous vehicle and to explain what will be happening.

Uber and Volvo signed a major deal at the beginning of the year and agreed to spend $300 million in the development of a car that is fully automated and expected to hit the road in 2021. The Uber and Volvo deal is far from exclusive, Uber strongly intends to partner with other prospective automakers in the vibrant auto industry. Currently it is racing to recruit additional engineers for this ambitious program. In the month of July, Uber arrived at an agreement to purchase Otto.

Otto is a driver-less truck startup with a total of ninety one employees. It was founded sometime back at the beginning of the year. What makes it worthwhile is the fact that it has engineers from several tech companies with high profiles such as Google, Tesla and Apple that are attempting to bring to the market driver-less cars.

Otto has been able to successfully develop a kit which permits big-rig trucks to steer themselves on the road. This lets the driver to rest at the back of the cabin. This cutting edge technology is currently being tested around San Francisco. This is technology is set to boost their efforts in introducing the self-driving fleet in Pittsburgh this month. In the long term, it will be used to start an Uber-like truck hauling service in the U.S and this will promote intercity services offered by the company such as Uber Eats.

Clients in downtown Pittsburgh will be able to summon self-driving cars via their mobile phones.
Uber’s first self-driving fleet arrives in Pittsburgh this month and riders can not wait to get a feel of this cutting edge technology.

Image source:Uber

Lance McHenry on Twitter
Lance McHenry
Staff News Writer: Lance McHenry is a writer, tea snob, entrepreneur, lover of #tech and #startups. His idea of triathlon is developing an idea, creating a prototype, and validating. He has been involved in the growth of several startups and now shares his ideas on business and tech. Follow him on Twitter @Lanceexpress

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Staff News Writer: Lance McHenry is a writer, tea snob, entrepreneur, lover of #tech and #startups. His idea of triathlon is developing an idea, creating a prototype, and validating. He has been involved in the growth of several startups and now shares his ideas on business and tech. Follow him on Twitter @Lanceexpress

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