More than two years ago Uber identified autonomous driving technology as the springboard for the next stage of growth. The startup has already shaken up taxi services, earning a valuation of $68-billion. It plans to replace many of its 1.5 million drivers with autonomous vehicles.
There will be four self-driving vehicles available to passengers, to start, and two people will sit in the front to take over driving when the car cannot steer itself.
By integrating self-driving cars with its ride-services app, Uber may be the first introduction to autonomous cars that many people will have.
"If Uber scores a home run with this it's going to be wonderful for the planet," said Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon.
"We will see a much safer and more efficient world where we have to use less energy to move people around." Still, Moore said at least another decade of research and development is needed before there would be a significant number of truly autonomous cars on the road.
The Pittsburgh fleet consists of Ford Fusion cars with 3D cameras, GPS and a technology called lidar that uses lasers to assess the shape and distance of objects.
Volvo SUVs will be added to the fleet.
The cars do drive themselves, but the Uber driver in the front seat takes control, according to company protocol, to allow pedestrians to cross the street, manoeuvre through a construction zone and turn across traffic at an intersection.
An Uber engineer sits in the passenger seat, occasionally adjusting the speed of the car, which mostly drives slowly.
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