Autonomous driving has been spreading like wildfire this year. Almost every car company in the industry has come out announcing their self-driving strategy, and many vehicles are already equipped with semi-autonomous self-driving technology. That’s why this is such huge news.

Uber takes the first step

Starting later this month, residents of Downtown Pittsburgh will be able to request Uber rides from fully-autonomous Volvo XC90s. These Volvos will be supervised by a human in the driver seat, but they’re only meant to intervene if absolutely necessary. The future is here, people.

Following Google, Uber is now the second company to put autonomous vehicles on public roads. They are the first company to bring their autonomous vehicles to market, though. It’s a huge first step in the world of autonomous driving, and we can’t believe it happened so quick.

Big money

There’s a lot of excitement surrounding autonomous driving right now. Uber currently has an agreement with Volvo to spend $300 million on producing a fully autonomous car. Their deal isn’t exclusive, though. They’re also partnering with Otto, a trucking company working on autonomous big-rigs.

And we’re sure there are more deals to come with other automakers. As far as we know, Uber has never displayed an interest in creating their own car – they’d rather leave that to the experts.

The big question

Now, the question on everyone’s mind is safety. After a few auto-pilot accidents, we can only imagine people are hesitant to let technology take the wheel. Luckily for Pittsburgh residents, the Volvo XC90 is incredibly safe. Plus, we’d be shocked if Uber was rolling their self-driving cars out without a certain level of confidence in their capabilities.

So, if you know anyone in Pittsburgh or if you live there yourself, we recommend trying it out. It might be a little risky, but you’ll be one of the first to try out a fully-autonomous vehicle, which is pretty cool. Look ma’ no hands!

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