SF Chronicle – Uber to launch a robotaxi service in San Francisco. Here’s when
See original article by Rachel Swan at SF Chronicle
Uber, one of the original Silicon Valley ride-hail titans, plans to launch a robotaxi service in San Francisco late next year.
Crafted in partnership with Lucid, a manufacturer of electric cars, and Nuro, an autonomous vehicle technology company, the new business will send a fleet of custom-built vehicles onto streets already crowded with self-driving Waymo sedans and Zoox buggies.
Representatives of the companies said they would start engineering tests on a sampling of 100 cars over the next few months, with plans to expand to 20,000 cars, in various cities, within six years.
Characterizing the Bay Area as a hub of “transformative technology,” Uber chief product officer Sachin Kansal touted what could be a major development in mobility, as self-driving vehicles become more ingrained in the landscape.
“By combining deep expertise in electric vehicles, autonomy, and ridehailing, we’re laying the groundwork for safe and scalable autonomous rides in the Bay Area and beyond,” Kansal said in a statement.
Autonomous ride-hailing, long dominated by Waymo, has become a more competitive industry in recent months, with Zoox opening an East Bay factory and gearing up for commercial rides in San Francisco as more companies enter the fray.
At the same time, questions linger about the safety of these vehicles following notable incidents, including a vehicle by the now-defunct Cruise that dragged a person on Market Street.
This isn’t the first time Uber has explored the robotaxi market. The company was among the early adopters to the technology in the 2010s, even testing vehicles in metropolitan areas. That exploration essentially ended in March of 2018 when an Uber self-driving car struck and killed a pedestrian in Phoenix. The incident happened as a safety “driver” was sitting in the vehicle’s driver seat, reportedly distracted when the collision occurred.
See original article by Rachel Swan at SF Chronicle
