Pittsburgh proceeds with caution on Uber's self-driving cars
The city welcomed the experiment with open arms nine months ago but now reportedly feels Uber hasn't lived up to its end of the bargain.
Uber's self-driving cars might be losing their shine in former steel town Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
To Pittsburgh, a former steel town, Uber's driverless car experiment seems to be losing its shine.
Just nine months after Pittsburgh welcomed the project with open arms, the city's relationship with Uber has soured, The New York Times reported Monday. Among the complaints from officials and residents: Uber is reportedly charging for driverless rides that were pitched as free, has withdrawn support from the city's application for a federal transportation grant, and hasn't created jobs it promised in a struggling neighborhood that houses the self-driving car testing track.
Evidence of a strained relationship between the city and company surfaced last month when the city was reportedly asking the ride-hailing startup to commit to giving back more to the community before it would greenlight the project.
Uber declined to comment specifically on Monday's report, but has touted investments in Pittsburgh, including $100 million in operations and 675 jobs to the greater metropolitan area.
Uber has built a ride-hailing empire, but it's betting on self-driving cars to be the future of its company. In addition to Pittsburgh, it's piloting programs in Arizona and California, all of which are threatened by an ongoing lawsuit filed against it by Waymo.