If you visit Pittsburgh right now you can see self-driving cars with the Uber logo on them riding around the city. Even though you might think of this city as the tough and gritty home of the American Steel Worker, and it certainly is that, this is also the home of three highly advanced universities and is home to Uber which is why Uber chose this city as the place it would launch the self-driving vehicles to be tested. Right now these cars are navigating the winding and narrow streets of this great city in a way we might have never thought possible.
With the instant success that Uber has enjoyed with this program they have chosen their next destination where they will unleash another fleet of free ride autonomous Uber vehicles to be enjoyed on the road and give the passengers a ride they won’t soon forget. The purpose in this program is to gather data regarding the use of the vehicles, the comfort levels of the passengers and the performance of the car regarding following the rules of the road while in a large and highly congested city, which makes the next Uber target city one that makes perfect sense.
The next place Uber will launch these autonomous vehicles will be in Detroit. The home of the Big Three automakers seems to be a fitting location to release a small fleet of vehicles that will drive themselves around town. Detroit is a large city with small streets, similar to Pittsburgh. This city is also a place that has been through a large changeover after being one of the most active metro areas in the country to one that was nearly bankrupt and now is working its way back to its former glory. Like Pittsburgh, Detroit is a proud city that won’t soon forget its roots, which makes me wonder what vehicles Uber will use in Detroit.
This new location for a fleet of cars to test the streets will come with a launching pad which will be the facility that Uber will build in Detroit and begin to employ some of the residents of the area. Uber will use a fleet of Ford Fusion vehicles in the Detroit area as part of its partnership with Ford. Ford currently has partnerships with Google, Lyft, Uber and Volvo to develop the autonomous vehicles of the future and they are still working toward a goal of having fully autonomous vehicles on the road by 2021.
Detroit residents can look forward to being able to give Uber feedback regarding the vehicles and the technology as they enjoy rides that will allow them to drive down the road in a car that doesn’t require a driver. While that might be a bit of a discomforting vision, each of these test cars will still have a human driver aboard to take over when the vehicle doesn’t perform the way it should. This is part of the agreement of testing these vehicles, much the same as it was with the Pittsburgh fleet.
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