Uber to Hit Downtown Dallas to Collect Data for its Autonomous Vehicle Project from November

Uber, a popular ride-hailing service, is looking forward to expanding its data reserve for the potential autonomous vehicles in Dallas. It was announced that from November the data will be collected by a mission specialist (human driver) and the data will be used to create HD maps that could someday enable self-driving vehicles to transport passengers on streets in downtown Dallas. Sensors located on the roof of the vehicles will be used to scan the area to map the streets on which the vehicle travels.  The company hopes that this research might help them understand various driving scenarios better so that they can be recreated in test tracks and simulation labs. Uber has already started to collect data in Toronto, Pittsburg, and San Francisco.

Mapping consumes a lot of resources and time because of the trips that have to be carried out to annotate features like stop signs, lane markers, and crosswalks. The company ensures that every mile of the drive will contribute significantly to the developmental works. Uber started to collect data for its project from 2016 with a team of 100 employees for image collection. Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation wants all Uber vehicles to have one human backup driver and if the company is planning to exceed the speed limit above 25 miles then the vehicle must have two backup drivers.