Uber’s latest ambitions include entering the autonomous driving space and improving data routing collection. They’re taking steps for both with its new mapping efforts. Uber mapping vehicles have been already been spotted in the US. The company may have missed out on buying Nokia’s HERE mapping service but they acquired Bing’s mapping assets and its team members. And this acquisition is helping them work on improving ETAs and boost routing technology within the driver’s app. Right now they make use of a combination of Google Maps and a proprietary routing algorithm.
Another reason for the ramped up mapping efforts is to support Uber’s bid into the autonomous car space. There are fleets of mapping vehicles near Uber’s Advanced Technology Centers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and near the University of Arizona that make use of the company’s proprietary technology to capture images for routing and safety needs of its autonomous cars.
Source: BuzzFeed | Via: Android Central