Uber, which is notorious for more or less ignoring its drivers’ needs already, is apparently looking to one-day cut out the middleman entirely. According to a report from TechCrunch, the on-demand car service is building a robotics research lab to “kickstart autonomous taxi fleet development”. Because at least robots won’t get all uppity about sketchy loans and unfair wages.
And Uber’s not messing around — the company’s apparently hired 50 senior scientists from Carnegie Mellon and the National Robotics Engineering Center (which is associated with the university) to staff the brand new robotics workshop. According to TechCrunch’s source, “Uber has ‘cleaned out’ the Robotics Institute.”
And while this might seem like a pretty unexpected next step for a company built on the shoulders of the ever-touted “sharing economy,” Uber is essentially using its fleet as self-driving cars already. This way, they can just stop paying the meatbags behind the wheels entirely. The Singularity is nigh. [TechCrunch]