Uber introduced the world’s first Self-Driving cars in San Francisco recently and has already ran a red light.
According to a report in the San Francisco Examiner:
Uber launched a fleet of its much anticipated self-driving cars in San Francisco on Wednesday, and by late morning the effort already hit a bad-driver milestone: running a red light. credit
Still, the technology shows promise.
In another article from Tech Crunch yesterday:
Uber said earlier that it did not intend to pursue this permit, the requirements for which are detailed by the California DMV on a site dedicated to autonomous vehicle operation on public roads. In a letter to Uber telling it to end the launch of its self-driving service, the DMV states that Uber will face “legal action, including but not limited to, seeking injunctive relief” if it does not comply.
Uber currently has an engineer riding behind the wheel of all their autonomous vehicle and does not plan to apply for the permits required by California law to drive autonomous cars on public roads.
The article went on to say:
Uber has been ordered by state regulators to stop using self-driving cars in California, according to the Associated Press, at least until it secures the necessary permit issued by the state to allow companies to test autonomous vehicles on public roads. The California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a statement saying Uber was expected to secure such a permit, but Uber maintained that it did not require this clearance because its vehicles were not fully self-driving and have a driver onboard at all times. credit
The ride-sharing giant first started its new, disruptive innovation in Pittsburgh where the countries first, autonomous taxi service began.
Select Uber users can now ride in self-driving cars with trained engineers at the wheel, just in case. Of course, if they do their job right, they won't be needed forever.
Inside, riders are greeted by a tablet that shows them how the car works and how it sees the world.
Uber plans to release a fleet of autonomous, Volvo SUV's early next year, but it's using Ford Fusions for the time being.
They can explore a 12-mile chunk of downtown Pittsburgh, an area the companies engineers quickly plan to expand.
Over bridges, down narrow streets, around pedestrians, the car handles just about everything. Still, a human engineer does have to grab the wheel every few minutes.
The city of bridges is happy to host a robo-revolution, with its promise of high tech jobs and fewer crashes than ever before, even if some find the jerry-rigged, robo-rides perplexing.
There will always be those who oppose new technologies, but as new, game-changing technologies continue to be invented and innovation increases in development, cities will need to adapt or be left behind.
It was steel, but also innovation that built Pittsburgh. Startups will choose places based upon the ability to be innovative and there's never a time that regulations have come before innovations. You can't stop the clock and if you demand on stopping the clock, all you're assuring is that technology and those jobs will be in a different city.
Unlike California and other states, Pennsylvania hasn't restricted the testing of these cars, which means there are fewer rules.
It looks like a pretty normal car if you can ignore the cameras and laser scanners.
Once the technology is perfected, tested and approved it won't be long before it is improved upon.
I can see a day coming in the not-too-distant future where autonomous vehicles like Uber will combine with the blockchain.
Imagine a self-driving car that can own itself, register itself, pay for its own insurance, gas and repairs, all on the blockchain, funded by the bitcoins it charges its passengers.
From the passengers perspective, they would order an autonomous car on their phone app, get picked up and driven to their destination and pay in cryptocurrency.
What an interesting time to be alive.
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