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Uber Begins Testing Self-Driving Cars In San Francisco

By Val Powell
Published on: 19:45 PST, Sep 24, 2016

After a successful pilot test in Pittsburgh, the self-driving cars by Uber started rolling out in San Francisco, generating amusement and even apprehension among onlookers.

However, according to a source at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles, Uber does not yet have the legal right to test self-driving cars in the state.

The company confirmed that someone is seated behind the wheel of each car while it navigates the streets, but it is unclear whether the car is actually being driven by a person. According to one eyewitness, the driver’s hands were on the steering wheel as the car drove by.

https://www.facebook.com/sanfrannewz/posts/540816532774201

For now, Uber is doing limited testing and has not made autonomous transportation service available to customers in San Fransisco.

The company spokesman told the TechTimes, “A handful of cars equipped with advanced driver safety and self-driving technology are now being tested in the Bay Area. These are for internal research use only.”

The self-driving cars by Uber are Ford Fusion models. They have 20 sensors and seven lasers, including a bulky scanning system on top of the car, which feeds data into the computers. The testing is led by startup Otto’s founder, Anthony Lewandowski. Otto initially experimented with self-driving trucks.

Uber is keeping its cards close to its chest regarding the testing in San Francisco. But one of the company’s main objectives is to map out the terrain so that when the self-driving car does go autonomous, it would be a smooth and safe ride.

Journalist Noah Kulwin seemed very impressed by Uber’s autonomous car in an anecdotal piece for Vice News. For one thing, he seemed giddy that he rode in a vehicle driven by a robot on the streets of Pittsburgh and didn’t die in the process.

He said that the car did what it was supposed to do, maneuvering around obstacles and stopping at traffic lights and avoiding pedestrians. It was scary at first, he said, by trusting a machine completely but after a while the ride got comfortable.

“For the ‘loyal’ Uber customers in Pittsburgh who are selected to be part of the pilot group, it’s no sure thing that they’ll hail one of the self-driving cars,” he wrote. “The company says that there are 4,000 drivers in the greater Pittsburgh area, although the autonomous vehicles will only be picking up passengers within a test area inside the city proper.”

Of course, the experiment in Pittsburgh is not without its hitches just like what happened to this customer.

In related news, Grab Taxi is giving Uber a run for their money after joining forces with self-driving car company nuTonomy in Singapore. Starting this week, selected customers in the city-state will be able to book a free ride via a mobile app within the western Singapore area. They will serve as the guinea pigs to help iron out the kinks before the service becomes widespread. NuTonomy is aiming to have 100 driverless taxis in Singapore by 2018.

Lim Kell Jay, head of Grab Singapore said, “Our view of self-driving vehicles is it’s a supplementary solution to some of the issues that we are unable to solve with existing supply.”

While Grab has started picking up passengers this week, Uber hopes to roll out 100 units of self-driving cars by the end of the year.

[Featured Photo By Jeff Swensen/Getty Images]

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