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                    Uber Begins Testing of Self-Driving Cars

   by VOA News

   Popular ride-hailing service Uber has begun to test self-driving cars.

   A specially outfitted Ford Fusion is traveling the streets of
   Pittsburgh, fully decked out with radar, laser scanners and
   high-resolution cameras.

   "If you're driving around Pittsburgh in the coming weeks, you might see
   a strange sight: a car that looks like it should be driven by a
   superhero," the company said in a statement. "But this is no movie
   prop, it's a test car from Uber's Advanced Technologies Center in
   Pittsburgh."

   A driver will still operate the vehicle, but eventually the goal is to
   have no one behind the wheel.

   The ride-sharing giant said it was "still in the early days of our
   self-driving efforts," and that it was "focused on getting the
   technology right and ensuring it's safe for everyone on the road:
   pedestrians, cyclists and other drivers."

   The San Francisco-based company said it chose Pittsburgh because it "is
   an ideal environment to develop and test our technology across a wide
   variety of road types, traffic patterns and weather conditions."

   Uber is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The
   company's new Advanced Technologies Center is headed by a Carnegie
   Mellon robotics engineer.

   Uber is part of a group of companies involved in creating self-driving
   cars. Others include Ford, Volvo, and Lyft and Alphabet, the parent
   company of Google.

   "Self-driving cars have the potential to save millions of lives and
   improve quality of life for people around the world," the company
   statement said. "Ninety-four percent of [road] accidents involve human
   error."
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/mht-uber-begins-testing-self-driving-
   cars/3337540.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/mht-uber-begins-testing-self-driving-cars/3337540.html