Uber's First Self-Driving Car Had Its First Driving Test in Pittsburgh

Global car-hailing company Uber has recently announced that it will soon begin testing its autonomous or self-driving automobiles using hybrid Ford Fusion as the experimental car on US public roads starting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"If you're driving around Pittsburgh in the coming weeks you might see a strange sight: a car that looks like it should be driven by a superhero but this is no movie prop -- it's a test car from Uber's Advanced Technologies Center (ATC) in Pittsburgh," the rid-sharing giant stated as quoted by Discovery News.

The company stated that its autonomous driving powered by artificial intelligence is still in its nascent stage. As of the moment, the company's focus is to get things right by developing the technology necessary to ensure safety for people on the road including pedestrians, drivers, and cyclists.

Little has been said about Uber's plans in the still emerging sector that is still in its infancy. Last month, the car-hailing and ride-sharing giant became one of the original and founding members of an industry-based alliance which calls itself as the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets with members that include a number of Silicon Valley titans like Alphabet's subsidiary unit Google and rival Lyft plus automobile giants such as Ford and Volvo. It is expected that as the industry grows over time, the coalition is set to increase in numbers to come up with a set of industry standards as well as safety regulations and guidelines.

The self-driving tests in Pittsburgh is set to take place in the coming weeks with the chief goal of gathering mapping data and expanding the industrial and scientific horizon on the immense potential of autonomous driving technology. The company's announcement on its Pittsburgh driving tests comes just less than a month after American car giant General Motors and rival Lyft announced to team up on testing a fleet of driverless taxis on US roads starting in 2017.

"Real-world testing is critical to our efforts to develop self-driving technology. Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world," the company stated as per official statement quoted by Raw Story.

So what's in it for Uber?

The emerging self-driving technology does have long-term financial prospects for Uber. It's an innovation-led growth strategy. For CEO Travis Kalanick, Uber drivers have often been as the most expensive component of its ride-sharing business model especially when it comes to the ongoing debate whether drivers should be classified as contractors or employees. Currently, the company recently agreed to pay $100-million lawsuit claim concerning the status of drivers.

"When there's no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere becomes cheaper than owning a vehicle. So the magic there is, you basically bring the cost below the cost of ownership for everybody, and then car ownership goes away," Kalanick said as quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.