Uber Follows Waymo's Path And Creates A Simulated City To Test Autonomous Cars

In its quests towards developing self-driving vehicles, ride hailing company Uber has constructed a ‘fake city’ for the testing of its autonomous cars, which already runs in San Francisco. Dubbed ‘Almono‘, the facility is built on a 11,000 sq ft plot of land comprising a veritable smorgasbord of obstacles including roadways, complicated intersections, fake cars and unpredictable pedestrians.
Uber has plans to further expand the facility by another 13,000 sq ft, which will go towards the company’s efforts in testing their self-driving vehicles’ abilities before they reach service on public roads. The obstacles put in place are meant to test Uber’s self-driving vehicles far beyond what they may encounter in real-life deployment, Uber said.

We have obstacles and mannequins that move and can cross the street in front of the car. We have prop vehicles zooming around. In most situations, we simulate those in such a way that they’re worse than anything you would see out on public roads

– Uber vehicle operator Rick McKahan.
The ride-sharing company hasn’t revealed its latest list of autonomous vehicles, though it has partnered with Volvo and Ford in earlier autonomous technology developments, while each automaker embarked on their own autonomous tech work.