Uber Technologies Inc on Thursday said it would deploy driverless cars for its ride-sharing services in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this month, pushing the envelope for the use of self-driving technology.
Uber said the program would begin with the cars carrying company “co-pilots,” engineers and safety personnel, after testing the cars in the western Pennsylvania city without passengers for months.
Uber also announced two other moves to further solidify itself as a trailblazer in driverless cars:
Photo: AP
First, it established a US$300 million venture with Chinese-owned, Sweden-based Volvo Cars Corp to develop self-driving cars for sale by 2021.
Second, it is buying Otto, a San Francisco start-up developing self-driving commercial trucks.
“Together, we now have one of the strongest autonomous engineering groups in the world; self-driving trucks and cars that are already on the road thanks to Otto and Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh,” Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick said in a statement.
Uber gave few details on the Pittsburgh project, which has been in the planning since last year.
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which oversees Uber’s operations in the state, said they were awaiting information from the company on its Pittsburgh plan.
“We will be carefully reviewing that based on our commitment to safeguarding the traveling public,” he said.
According to Uber, initially the driverless cars deployed in the city will be Ford Fusions and Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles; the latter is the car the joint venture with Volvo is focused on.
“Volvo has consistently been a leader when it comes to safety, and partnership is crucial to our self-driving strategy, because Uber has no experience making cars,” Kalanick said.
He said the company is focused on boosting safety on the road in its work.
He said that 90 percent of road accidents are due to human error and that driverless cars would save lives.
Uber unveiled its first self-driving car in May, beginning testing on the streets of Pittsburgh.
Volvo engineers also began supervised tests of semi-autonomous cars in 2014 in the Swedish city of Gothenburg, where the company has its headquarters.
It is to let a limited number of people test the vehicles on the streets of London and Gothenburg next year.
Pittsburgh, the home of robotics research pioneer Carnegie Mellon University, has strongly backed the push to develop autonomous cars, despite ongoing concerns over regulation and safety.
“The city of Pittsburgh has been fully supportive of Uber’s efforts to expand its program and advance innovation. Mayor [William] Peduto, a regular user of Uber, welcomes these advancements and looks forward to further collaboration with the company,” city spokesman Tim McNulty said.
In taking over the 90-person Otto, Uber said that Otto cofounder Anthony Levandowski will now lead Uber’s efforts to develop self-driving technology for personal driving, delivery and trucking.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS