Uber has confirmed it has branched into self-driving cars, as its first driverless taxis arrive on the streets of Pittsburgh.
The company's new cars will have a safety driver and a co-pilot in order to make the experiment "safe for everyone on the road".
Ford Fusion vehicles will be taking to the streets of Pittsburgh, though the cars aren't entirely autonomous. A human driver brings the cars to the road before hitting a silver button that activates the autonomous driver mode.
A safety driver will be in the car for the duration of the ride, in case there is a need to intervene should something go wrong. A co-pilot will also be in the front passenger seat, monitoring the car and its route on a laptop to watch for glitches and anomalies.
To prepare for Uber's first driverless venture, Ford Fusion cars were used to "collect mapping data" and "test its self-driving capacities", though again, a trained driver was present in the cars at all time. The first photographs were released of the car earlier this year, which was spotted driving around the city for over a year.
Uber says the new venture is part of a mission to develop self-driving technology, adding that self-driving cars have the potential to "save millions of lives and improve quality of life for people around the world.
"In the future, we believe this technology will mean less congestion, more affordable and accessible transportation and far fewer lives lost in car accidents. These goals are at the heart of Uber's mission to make transportation as reliable as running water – everywhere and for everyone."
Cameras will record the rides of passengers who agree to be part of the pilot programme, with the company saying the footage will improve their experience over time.
An iPad will also be docked in the back of each vehicle to display the car's route and give riders a sense of what the car "sees" such as multicoloured outlines of other vehicles on the road and whatever else the sensors pick up at the time.
The self-driving taxi fleet will expand to include 100 Volvo cars by the end of the year. Volvo and Uber signed a $300 million deal to develop self-driving cars that will be ready for the road by 2021.
Ford is currently developing its own self-driving taxi programme and hopes to have 30 self-driving Fusion Hybrid sedans in California, Arizon and Michigan before the end of 2016.
See WIRED taking a trip in one of Ford's self-driving Fusion cars at the firm's headquarters in Michigan.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
