Uber has started the testing of four self driving cars in Pittsburgh. Only pre-selected users of Uber were able to choose the option to ride in a self-driving car. It’s an attempt of Uber to disrupt transportation. (wired.com,2016)
Can you imagine that in the future it could be possible to drive around without having a drivers license. Saving time is an important advantage of the self-driving cars. Why would you drive 2 hours to get somewhere if you also can take a nap or do something for work? Besides this, it is also important that you get somewhere easily and safely. Google has shown that worldwide more than 1.2 million traffic accidents cause deaths. By developing and using self-driving cars, this number can be reduced, since 94% of traffic accidents in the U.S. involve human error. (google.com,2016)
The first Uber test self-driving cars are Ford Fusion hybrid cars that includes a lot of cameras, sensors, lasers and intertial measureent units. The cars also include a special system for resources and data storage. Each car will also have two employees who are seated in the 2 front seats. The person in the driving seat is trained to drive the car and the other employee is an engineer. His job is to take notes and solve potential problems during the proces. (eweek.com,2016)
Unlike other companies that are developing self-driving cars, Uber finds it important to share the testing experience with its customers. What will be the feeling of non-engineers while being a part of the experience.
I have only described a part of Uber’s development of self-driving cars. Uber won’t say when they are ready to bring their cars on the market. Competitors are promosing to bring it on the market within the next three to five years also with the possibility to share cars. It’s just a matter of time before our driving licenses won’t be usefull anymore. (wired.com,2016)
http://www.eweek.com/networking/uber-testing-self-driving-cars-on-challenging-pittsburgh-streets.html, https://www.wired.com/2016/09/self-driving-autonomous-uber-pittsburgh/, https://www.google.com/selfdrivingcar/
