Watch two Pittsburgh Steelers and one autonomous Uber take a ride round town

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By Matthew Griffin Future Transport 3rd December 2016

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

With over sixty percent of Americans feeling either downright nervous about, or just plain anti self-driving cars, Uber and other car companies are hoping these kinds of videos will encourage the general public to embrace the technology when it finally rolls out

Uber’s self driving cars have been operating on a limited basis in Pittsburgh for a couple of months now and getting a ride in one is by invitation only. So it was with great luck – or maybe because of great connections that defensive ends Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, from the Pittsburgh Steelers, managed to get a ride in one – although at times it might not look like they were actually going to be able to fit into the back of the car, so while it would have been far too cramped in the back for you to tag along and experience it for yourself fortunately they posted a video of their experience so now you too can see what it’ll be like to get taken for a ride.

Tuitt: “What are we going to do?”
Cam: “Don’t worry, bro. I got the @Uber_PIT.” pic.twitter.com/08KhpV02GR

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 7, 2016

In case you’re wondering why Pittsburgh is so special it’s because that’s where Ubers Advanced Technologies Center and robotics facility is based – right next to, arguably, the kings of the autonomous car world at Carnegie Mellon University who so far have spawned more autonomous car experts than every other university combined.

Despite all the fanfare though I’m still left thinking that this isn’t as cool as getting into an Uber flying taxi so I’ll wait for my invitation to try one of those instead…

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.