Celebrate King's Day with TNW 🎟 Use code GEZELLIG40 on your Business, Investor and Startup passes today! This offer ends on April 29 →

This article was published on May 19, 2016

Here’s a first look at Uber’s self-driving car


Here’s a first look at Uber’s self-driving car

We’ve heard a lot about Uber’s plans to create its own self-driving vehicle, but we’ve always been curious to see what it would look like. Today, Uber gave us a glimpse of its current self-driving car.

Announced in a blog post, the car is essentially a Ford Fusion equipped with laser scanners, radar, and high resolution cameras to photograph all the places it’ll go.The sensors are all aligned almost like speakers (or missiles) – unlike Google’s street view car with a 360-degree globe-like camera up top.

Uber car

Uber says it will be driving in Pittsburgh to collect mapping data and test its self-driving mode. A human driver will be sitting in the car to prevent accidents should the car steer in the wrong path.

“1.3 million people die every year in car accidents — 94 percent of those accidents involve human error,” Uber said. “In the future we believe this technology will mean less congestion, more affordable and accessible transportation, and far fewer lives lost in car accidents.”

The <3 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

The test is still in its early days so it will be a while until a self-driving Uber arrives to take you to your destinations, but expect to see the car show up in other cities soon as Uber grows its efforts.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.

Also tagged with