---
title: "The First Driverless Uber Could Hit the Road as Soon as Next Year"
description: "Uber will soon use autonomous vehicles to transport passengers. The company's CEO said the first self-driving cars will hit the road within the next 18 months."
date: "2018-01-24"
modified: "2018-01-24"
authors:
  - name: "Brad Jones"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/bradj"
url: "https://futurism.com/first-driverless-uber-hit-road-soon-2019"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "Autonomous vehicles"
  - "Self-driving cars"
  - "Uber"
---

# The First Driverless Uber Could Hit the Road as Soon as Next Year

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/la-fi-tn-uber-self-driving-20160913-vid.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.uber.com/cities/pittsburgh/self-driving-ubers/" target="\_blank"\>Uber\</a\>\</em\>*

## Autonomous Vehicles

Uber's long-term goal for it ride-hailing service is to phase out human drivers in favor of wholly [autonomous vehicles](<https://futurism.com/autonomous-cars-driving-our-streets-welcome-2018>). Now, the company's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has indicated that this transition might happen sooner rather than later.

[Speaking at Bloomberg's The Year Ahead event,](<https://www.pscp.tv/business/1PlKQQDDPAXKE>) Khosrowshahi stated his belief that the company would be able to field autonomous vehicles within the next 18 months, according to a report from [Tech Crunch](<https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/23/uber-ceo-hopes-to-have-self-driving-cars-in-service-in-18-months/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook>). And these cars wouldn't just be performing tests — they would be ferrying passengers around just like any other Uber driver.

However, the CEO did acknowledge that [full autonomy](<https://futurism.com/autonomous-cars-will-be-on-california-roads-in-2018-without-human-drivers>) in each and every use case is still a long way off. He suggested that the company would look at it on a ride-by-ride basis. At first, it might only possible for automated vehicles to take care of five percent of Uber trips. But as the algorithms used to direct cars around a particular city improve and more of the area is mapped out, that percentage will increase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLtHvt27fTI

But sometimes, even if the autonomous car can handle the trip, Uber may choose to send a human driver during inclement weather. Customers will also be able choose whether they want a driver or an automated vehicle.

Uber has been testing its autonomous vehicles on the road since 2016, and last year [expanded these efforts to the state of California](<https://futurism.com/ubers-self-driving-cars-are-officially-allowed-on-california-roads>). The company is far from the only group expanding driverless technology — Google subsidiary Waymo's [self-driving ride-hailing service](<https://futurism.com/waymo-ride-hailing-service-launching-soon-fully-autonomous-cars>) is nearly ready for the public, and Tesla is set to release an [update for its autopilot functions](<https://futurism.com/new-tesla-autopilot-functions-are-coming-in-the-next-several-months>) in the next few months.

It certainly seems that autonomous vehicles are set to become a part of everyday life within the next decade. Khosrowshahi projects that within ten to fifteen years, Uber will be able to serve most cities competently using self-driving cars.