[tohunt4me]

Photos from launch

 

[tohunt4me]

Driver should let a few College kids puke in the car, then go do the next pick up. See what reality looks like.

And SMELLS like !

 

[tohunt4me]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...eet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on

Near the end of 2014, Uber co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick flew to Pittsburgh on a mission: to hire dozens of the world's experts in autonomous vehicles. The city is home to Carnegie Mellon University's robotics department, which has produced many of the biggest names in the newly hot field. Sebastian Thrun, the creator of Google's self-driving car project, spent seven years researching autonomous robots at CMU, and the project's former director, Chris Urmson, was a CMU grad student.

"Travis had an idea that he wanted to do self-driving," says John Bares, who had run CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center for 13 years before founding Carnegie Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based company that makes components for self-driving industrial robots used in mining, farming, and the military. "I turned him down three times. But the case was pretty compelling." Bares joined Uber in January 2015 and by early 2016 had recruited hundreds of engineers, robotics experts, and even a few car mechanics to join the venture. The goal: to replace Uber's more than 1 million human drivers with robot drivers-as quickly as possible.

The plan seemed audacious, even reckless. And according to most analysts, true self-driving cars are years or decades away. Kalanick begs to differ. "We are going commercial," he says in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "This can't just be about science."

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. Google, widely regarded as the leader in the field, has been testing its fleet for several years, and Tesla Motors offers Autopilot, essentially a souped-up cruise control that drives the car on the highway. Earlier this week, Ford announced plans for an autonomous ride-sharing service. But none of these companies has yet brought a self-driving car-sharing service to market.

Uber's Pittsburgh fleet, which will be supervised by humans in the driver's seat for the time being, consists of specially modified Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles outfitted with dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers. Volvo Cars has so far delivered a handful of vehicles out of a total of 100 due by the end of the year. The two companies signed a pact earlier this year to spend $300 million to develop a fully autonomous car that will be ready for the road by 2021.

The Volvo deal isn't exclusive; Uber plans to partner with other automakers as it races to recruit more engineers. In July the company reached an agreement to buy Otto, a 91-employee driverless truck startup that was founded earlier this year and includes engineers from a number of high-profile tech companies attempting to bring driverless cars to market, including Google, Apple, and Tesla. Uber declined to disclose the terms of the arrangement, but a person familiar with the deal says that if targets are met, it would be worth 1 percent of Uber's most recent valuation. That would imply a price of about $680 million. Otto's current employees will also collectively receive 20 percent of any profits Uber earns from building an autonomous trucking business.

Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber
Photograph: Britta Pedersen/Picture-Alliance/DPA v

 

[tohunt4me]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/featu...eet-arrives-in-pittsburgh-this-month-is06r7on

Near the end of 2014, Uber co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick flew to Pittsburgh on a mission: to hire dozens of the world's experts in autonomous vehicles. The city is home to Carnegie Mellon University's robotics department, which has produced many of the biggest names in the newly hot field. Sebastian Thrun, the creator of Google's self-driving car project, spent seven years researching autonomous robots at CMU, and the project's former director, Chris Urmson, was a CMU grad student.

"Travis had an idea that he wanted to do self-driving," says John Bares, who had run CMU's National Robotics Engineering Center for 13 years before founding Carnegie Robotics, a Pittsburgh-based company that makes components for self-driving industrial robots used in mining, farming, and the military. "I turned him down three times. But the case was pretty compelling." Bares joined Uber in January 2015 and by early 2016 had recruited hundreds of engineers, robotics experts, and even a few car mechanics to join the venture. The goal: to replace Uber's more than 1 million human drivers with robot drivers-as quickly as possible.

The plan seemed audacious, even reckless. And according to most analysts, true self-driving cars are years or decades away. Kalanick begs to differ. "We are going commercial," he says in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. "This can't just be about science."

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. Google, widely regarded as the leader in the field, has been testing its fleet for several years, and Tesla Motors offers Autopilot, essentially a souped-up cruise control that drives the car on the highway. Earlier this week, Ford announced plans for an autonomous ride-sharing service. But none of these companies has yet brought a self-driving car-sharing service to market.

Uber's Pittsburgh fleet, which will be supervised by humans in the driver's seat for the time being, consists of specially modified Volvo XC90 sport-utility vehicles outfitted with dozens of sensors that use cameras, lasers, radar, and GPS receivers. Volvo Cars has so far delivered a handful of vehicles out of a total of 100 due by the end of the year. The two companies signed a pact earlier this year to spend $300 million to develop a fully autonomous car that will be ready for the road by 2021.

The Volvo deal isn't exclusive; Uber plans to partner with other automakers as it races to recruit more engineers. In July the company reached an agreement to buy Otto, a 91-employee driverless truck startup that was founded earlier this year and includes engineers from a number of high-profile tech companies attempting to bring driverless cars to market, including Google, Apple, and Tesla. Uber declined to disclose the terms of the arrangement, but a person familiar with the deal says that if targets are met, it would be worth 1 percent of Uber's most recent valuation. That would imply a price of about $680 million. Otto's current employees will also collectively receive 20 percent of any profits Uber earns from building an autonomous trucking business.

Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber
Photograph: Britta Pedersen/Picture-Alliance/DPA v

 

[tohunt4me]

Self cleaning restrooms have already been invented.

Just put a TILE FLOOR & PORCELIN SEATS in the car !

No problem !

 

[tohunt4me]

Was just about to post the same story, but thought I'd search first. Yesterday I saw there was a target of 2025 for this, so this is a bit of a surprise. Still I anticipate headline, "Driverless Cars Fed Up With Uber Rate Cuts Form SkyNet, Humanity Doomed!"

Driverless cars complain Uber keeps cutting Voltage !

UNSUSTAINABLE !

 

[tohunt4me]

Was thinking something similar, but I actually looked into the self-cleaning public bathrooms a while ago and many of them were eventually discontinued. I think they actually cost more to acquire and maintain than they are currently worth. It's just like how they keep threatening that McDs employees will be replaced by robots, and yet well over half of century of McDs and no robots. I guess it still DOES cost more.

 

[tohunt4me]

Was thinking something similar, but I actually looked into the self-cleaning public bathrooms a while ago and many of them were eventually discontinued. I think they actually cost more to acquire and maintain than they are currently worth. It's just like how they keep threatening that McDs employees will be replaced by robots, and yet well over half of century of McDs and no robots. I guess it still DOES cost more.

 

[tohunt4me]

Still lots of unanswered questions about driverless cars. Do you remember recent news that under some circumstances they were currently being programmed to potentially swerve and in effect kill the driver to save multiple pedestrians in the road? I thought immediately of a scenario where some young deer are crossing the road in fog and the car swerves and kills the driver, or some reckless teens aware of the behavior of the avoidance systems dart across highways as an atrocious prank knowing the cars will swerve to avoid them.

There are a number of troubling questions that still need to be answered about these systems, I think it will be a while before they should really be trusted (but odds are we won't wait and there will be a lot of disasters).

Robbers tossing mannequins in front of cars to rob passengers after a crash . . .

 

[tohunt4me]

It's cool stuff, but you can always have an initial example of cool stuff that is still not economically viable yet. You'll know it's viable when it starts popping up everywhere.

Like wal Mart self checkout ?

Like Robots building the cars ?

 

[tohunt4me]

Agree with both of your posts. Technology will catch up.

Given the number of 60 somethings, and above, still driving, I wonder which is more dangerous.

When machines can do all of the work,what do you imagine they will do with all of the surplus people ?

 

[tohunt4me]

I think a lot of people "gulp" at that question. It does seem like times are coming when a large portion of the population will not have skills that are needed for production anymore. I've heard futurists & theorists saying we can/should move to a life system where working in the traditional sense is not the focus of most people, and that perhaps everyone would receive the base means of life, with opportunities to improve needed skills to grow their overall prosperity, but it's hard to say.

I have to wonder right now if our ingenuity will really be powerful and timely enough to outpace our consumption of resources that can't be easily replaced.

Yesssss . . . . .

I wonder what the Globalists have planned for us ?

When Robots make us surplus inventory.

 

[tohunt4me]

.

 

[tohunt4me]

I hope the first driverless car will be referred to as "Hal," and the first driverless attendant shall be named "Dave."

"Open the Prius Back Doors Hal..."

 

[tohunt4me]

You guys need to keep in mind, they aren't self driving if they aren't self driving.

I know what you mean ! Wink wink.

 

[tohunt4me]

This has been a long train a running

 

[tohunt4me]

I just love that uber is nickel and diming the drivers with less and less money while throwing billions at this endeavor. Get rid of over a million drivers? I see an uprising akin to what would happen if the government tried to take away our guns. Black masked ex uber drivers sabotaging the driverless cars world wide. You will never catch me taking a ride in a driverless car, there are far too many variables that require human reasoning to safely navigate through busy city traffic.

They are using VOLVO S.U.V.'S.

Excellent choice for black market parts !

 

[tohunt4me]

I see a bright future for you and I...
Running Driverless Uber Chopshop.

I'm in !

 

[tohunt4me]

I'm in !

Would you like a certificate of salvage ,or a regular title with that ?

Do you have a choice of serial numbers ?

La plaqua,
must have la plaqua to export on barge & avoid import tax.

 

[tohunt4me]

I'm curious, what happens to the dmv and insurance companies if people no longer drive. If a human is not driving who bears the responsibility when the machine malfunctions and crashes? Loss of billions in revenue will see the insurance companies fighting this tooth and nail. The dmv will lose too...no need to license people anymore.

Whoever the vehicle is registered to is responsible.