Posted on 08/18/2016 11:05:37 AM PDT by Wolfie
Uber to deploy self-driving cars in Pittsburgh
The ride-sharing firm Uber will, for the first time, allow users to hail self-driving cars within a fortnight, the company has confirmed. Uber said the launch would take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It added that it was teaming up with Volvo.
At first, the vehicles will be supervised by a driver, who can take control if necessary, and an observer, Bloomberg reported.
The firm first revealed plans to replace human drivers two years ago.
More than one million people drive vehicles linked to its app, but are not directly employed by the company. A spokeswoman for the firm told the BBC: "Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones, crossing an important milestone that no automotive or technology company has yet achieved.
"In Pittsburgh, customers will request cars the normal way, via Uber's app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random. Trips will be free for the time being, rather than the standard local rate of $1.30 [£0.98] per mile."
She added that Volvo had already sent a small number of sensor-equipped XC90 sports utility vehicles (SUVs) to Uber, which would be used in the initial trials.
The carmaker intends to have delivered 100 such cars to its partner by the end of the year.
Uber had previously used modified Ford Fusions to test its self-driving tech.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
What happens if the rider tries to hijack/steal the car? Is the car set up to automatically shoot the perp?
Just tell it you want to take the Blue Belt and it’ll never be seen again.
Even if that were true, which is debatable since all the available information comes from the companies themselves, the potential liabilities are staggering. Every minor incident goes from ‘driver error’ to a major corporation being potentially responsible. And heaven forbid what will happen when one of these systems does have a catastrophic failure under real-world conditions, as the Tesla appears to have.
That doesn’t even consider Uber being held liable for endangering their passengers by not having a driver present.
The whole thing is an ambulance chasing lawyer’s dream.
Bomb delivery vehicles. Very bad idea.
"We hope you enjoyed the ride."
That doesn’t even consider Uber being held liable for endangering their passengers by not having a driver present.
...
For now they have drivers along with the driverless systems. But technology doesn’t stand still, it gets better. Hundreds of millions of miles of data have already been collected and used to improve the systems. And billions of more miles of data will be used in the future to make the systems better.
I think corporations are fully aware of the liabilities, yet tremendous effort and capital are being poured into the technology. Driving a car is probably the most dangerous thing a person does. In America alone, tens of thousands of people lose their lives each year. As long as the safety rate improves the liabilities will be economically viable.
People should know better than to rely on the hysterics of a dishonest media to judge a new technology.
Dumb idea. I can picture a future Putz-Gazette headline of a driverless Uber car goes down the Duqseune incline.
Route 8!
Maybe after 5 years of commercial use, would I get into a fully automated car/vehicle.
Driving in downtown Los Angeles or Miami poses some unique situations.
5.56mm
On a winter visit to Pittsburgh I had an interesting experience with one of the bigger hills when I discovered there was ice on the road. I wasn’t sure the car was ever going to stop (at least the normal way).
A self-driving car will already know about the Pittsburgh hills and will probably have very detailed information about driving conditions from all the other Uber cars (with or without drivers) on the road. Uber cars could know the location of every pothole, so that the driver (human or otherwise) could be messaged to avoid it.
No they finished the West End bridge. But now the 7th street bridge is closed. And the Greenfield, Liberty, Birmingham....
There ain’t no cabs on Carson Street....
City stairs - they show up as streets. That would be amusing.
When the car was on the cusp to take over from the horse, the car was demonized as a “great danger” for cities...
History truly repeats itself:
From horses to horsepower: A rocky transition
http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/horses-horsepower-rocky-transition
-snip-
“The transition literature is fascinating — lots of cartoons and jokes depicting innocent pedestrians having to leap out of the way of oncoming motorists. In “Reggy’s Christmas Present,” from Life in 1903, a smug young man in goggles and cap is hurtling down the main thoroughfare in his new car, scattering people, dogs and horses. A young woman in another cartoon is advised by her mother to make a quick getaway if she runs over a child. The car was a devil wagon, and reckless driving arrests made headlines.”
-end snip-
“very minor incident goes from ‘driver error’ to a major corporation being potentially responsible.”
This is already the case. I work at an automotive OEM and on any given day they have $300M worth of open lawsuits. Let me say that again, on any given DAY!
I’m amazed at the lack of strategic thinking I am seeing here, and other sources, when discussing this technology. Folks are thinking short term (it won’t work today!) vs imagining where it will be in 10 years.
Remember folks, just 10 years ago the standard cell phone was a flip phone. Technology is advancing at lightening speed now and I can’t even dream what might be available in 10 short years!
Here is another one from 1900:
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/100_years_ago_some_people_were_really_hostile_to_the_introduction
-snip-
But the most amusing (from today’s perspective) anti-automobile efforts happened in the Keystone State. At some point before 1910 (I can’t pin down the exact year), a group calling itself the Farmers’ Anti-Automobile Society of Pennsylvania proposed the following not-so-subtle additions to state law (emphasis added):
1. Automobiles traveling on country roads at night must send up a rocket every mile, then wait ten minutes for the road to clear. The driver may then proceed, with caution, blowing his horn and shooting off Roman candles, as before.
2. If the driver of an automobile sees a team of horses approaching, he is to stop, pulling over to one side of the road, and cover his machine with a blanket or dust cover which is painted or colored to blend into the scenery, and thus render the machine less noticeable.
3. In case a horse is unwilling to pass an automobile on the road, the driver of the car must take the machine apart as rapidly as possible and conceal the parts in the bushes.
-end snip-
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