Technology is something that has affected every single person on this planet. It is a fact that the human race has come a long way. Humanity has invented and discovered ways in which we can improvise for a better lifestyle and good living. Humankind focuses on making life more peaceful and less cumbersome. We have put in tremendous amount of effort to make the world a better place for living. Uber is one such system invented for better living.
What is Uber?
Uber is a behemoth in the industry of ride booking and it is one of the best-known organizations. It is an industry that is growing drastically and relies on modern technology. Auto making companies have taken one-step ahead to create an autonomous system of transportation (cab service). In simpler words, Uber is the automobile industry that offers safe rides to anyone at affordable rates. At the same time, it offers anyone an opportunity to be a self-employed rider. Since its establishment, how we use automobiles has changed and it affects our lives.
UberEats and Other Convenience
It is a fact that the business from Uber has been expanding to great levels. We can say that they didn’t just stop with the providing a cab service. They went on to create UberEats. This service helps people to have their food delivered to their doorstep from across different food joints in the vicinity. Uber even provides rides on choppers. That tells the enormity to which the company has grown.
Uber Self-Driving Cars
Now they have taken the lead and have decided to go having the self-driving cars. Uber has been making efforts to make the self-driving as a major success. They are still in the initial stages of this particular initiative and are yet to take a huge leap forward. The firm has launched the pilot program to test the vehicles on the streets in the state of San Francisco.
Unfortunately, there were a few hindrances in the beginning, when the regulators opposed the testing of the self-driven cars of Uber. The company went on to apply for a permit with the DMV to approve them to test their autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, the vehicles went to Arizona for the testing of the self-driven cars where the regulations were different.
Testing Phase of Uber Self-driven Vehicles
The self-driven cars are now on the streets for testing. It is a rumor that there are issues with the way it is working. Uber’s autonomous vehicle doesn’t seem to drive on its own, without human assistance. For now, all the self-driven cars in the testing stage have a human behind the wheel to monitor the driving. If there are any situations where the sensors and signals are not working properly and the car is not going in the right direction, then the driver at the wheel will take over.
Recently there was a performance report revealed from an unknown source from the company. The report stated that the self-driven cars are unable to cover even a mile without the intervention of the driver at the wheel. The report said that the autonomous cars might not be safe for the passengers. There are more details in the performance report.
They Don’t Need Mediation by a Driver
On an average, the autonomous cars could drive at 0.67 miles in the Scottsdale Road, Arizona without any kind of mediation by the driver at the wheel. Apart from that, the cars were able to go ahead as long as for 2 miles without any dreadful experience. There were situations where the car brakes were hard and it required jerking with a lot of effort.
This very clearly shows that the company has to put more effort to make the self-driving fleet an actual possibility. Uber stated that the passenger’s experience with the autonomous car might not be a great one for a particular week in the month of March. On the other hand, rumor is that there has been an improvement in the driving conditions of the cars.
If that was the case in the Scottsdale location, the performance at Arizona State University location was exceptional. For now, what we know is that the cars can drive at an average speed of 7 miles. That too, without any kind of hindrance or mishaps at the cost of the rider’s comfort. Apart from that, they were able to ride the car without any help from the driver behind the wheel, at around 1.3 miles.
Huge Accomplishments
Uber made around 128 trips with the riders in a week. Previously, they made around 81 trips to the week. Amidst all the troubles that it had to go through, this is a huge accomplishment. Though it did perform well and has done a commendable job, it is evident that the company is far from reaching the mark to have the autonomous cars on the roads on a regular basis.
In the recent times, there has been a certain amount of improvement. Human intervention only happened over 200 miles to avoid any kind of untoward incidents. This improvement on the number of miles is great and we can expect that the things will change over a period. These statistics of the miles covered include the missed red signals at the traffic signals as well.
Others are Performing Better
In spite of these improvements with the Uber’s self-driven project, the numbers really seem to be low when compared to that of the other companies self-driven projects. Waymo, which is Google’s self-driving start-up, showed only a mere 0.2 percent of the detachment for every 1000 miles in the year 2016. There is another company, Cruise, which is a self-driving start-up. Owned by GM, it showed 18.5 percent of the detachments for every 1000 miles.
One of the alleviating factors here is the detachment numbers, recorded during the test drive. The tests were at the urban localities of Pittsburgh conceivably asserting environment to drive in rather than a highway in California. Another fact which is feed is that the number of miles, which is Uber’s self-driving cars have covered has increased consistently over the period.
Uber Stats better than Waymo Stats
They logged around 5000 miles in the initial weeks of February. It went up to 20,000 miles by the beginning of March for every week. In just a span of a month’s time, they have scaled up to 15,000 more miles. This is a commendable job done on Uber’s part. It is evident that the company is striving hard to make sure that it is providing the best service to its riders.
These figures seem to look better when compared to Waymo, which has scaled up 636, 000 miles in California and Cruise 9,776 miles in the year 2016 under the self-driving fleet.
Uber’s Toughest Competition
Though Uber is the behemoth, we can say that there is another company, which surpasses the rest –Tesla. It seems that the company has registered around 222 million miles on its autopilot.
It has also collected information worth of 1.3 billion miles of the complete driving performance. Though they have pulled off this magnificent performance with their vehicles, the autopilot mode is not completely automatic. The information regarding the driving of the autonomous is a great boon to learn and apply the techniques and mechanisms to the autonomous as well.
Uber Falls Behind
Amidst all these growths towards the self-driving fleet, we can see that Uber is far behind. It is high time that it catches up with its competitors. The necessity for this service is genuine and it is clear that Tesla, Waymo, and GM are willing to expand their industry with the self-driving. All they need is to wait for it to get an approval.
In addition, the technology implemented has to be reliable. Once they are successful with these factors, there is no stopping for them. The company is going through a lot in the recent times and it is surviving. We can be sure that the progress with Uber’s self-driven fleet will definitely end on a high note. Fingers crossed!
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