Uber confirms its self-driving car project
United
States: The taxi company has cleared the rumour regarding its
ongoing development of self-driving cars. The company has confirmed the testing
at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) in Pittsburgh.
The American multinational online
transportation network company Uber is using a hybrid Ford Fusion, which will
be testing its self-driving capabilities and also collecting data related to
mapping. The car will be assisted by a trained driver for monitoring operations
when the car is moving in self-driving mode. The Uber ATC is outfitted with a
number of advanced sensors including radars, laser scanners, and high
resolution cameras to map details of the environment.
Uber further said its project for autonomous
car technology is mainly concentrated on minimizing the number of death caused
by road accidents as a result of human error. According to Uber, almost 1.3
million people die every year due to car accidents and 94% of these mishaps
occur due to human errors. This technology has immense potential to save
millions of lives and quality of driving experience as well. San Francisco
based Uber recently joined a coalition including Alphabet Inc.’s Google and
Ford Motor Co. to advocate for safety regulations for self-driving cars and
help bring them to American roads.
According to a recent report published by TechSci Research “Global
Autonomous Car Technology Market Forecast and
Opportunities, 2035 – ADAS, Semi-Autonomous, Fully-Autonomous”, global autonomous car technology market
is expected to witness a CAGR of over 10% through 2035. The market is currently
dominated by ADAS segment, which is expected to maintain its dominance over the
next twenty years as well. The dominance of this segment can be attributed to
anticipated increase in government regulations pertaining to integration of
ADAS technologies in passenger cars. Further, semi-autonomous car technology is
expected to witness robust growth over the next ten years, owing to anticipated
decline in its average selling price coupled with rising volume sales.
Region-wise, North America has emerged as the largest contributor in the market
for autonomous car technology, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC) and
Middle East North Africa (MENA).
As
per TechSci Research, this advancement done by Uber is anticipated to enhance
the competition for self-driving cars in the industry. The entry of Uber in self-driving technologies will
provide it an edge over other players in the taxi industry. The new technology
is further anticipated to encourage other leading automobile companies and taxi
companies to invest in this concept in the upcoming years.