The brainpower of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute, the bumpy terrain and a high concentration of college students who don’t own cars are among the many reasons this Rust Belt metropolis has attracted more autonomous driving investment than anyplace outside Silicon Valley.
On Tuesday afternoon, a group of journalists rode in the latest iteration of Delphi’s driverless Audi SQ5 on a 10-minute course that included several uphills, downhills, curves and stops. An engineer sat in the driver’s seat, but he didn’t have to touch the wheel. The ride was safe and uneventful, but there was no human guidance at work.