Uber is
moving ahead with its plans for self-driving technology.
The ridesharing company just acquired Mighty AI, a startup that uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to detect and identify
objects for autonomous vehicles.
“The team at Mighty AI has built technology to label at scale using the latest AI and user experience techniques,’” stated Jon Thomason, vice
president software engineering at Uber ATG in announcing the acquisition. “Training our AI at increasing pace is critical to scaling our self-driving technology, and I look forward to
bringing Mighty AI’s technology together with our existing labeling automation expertise to help us move even faster.”
As part of the acquisition, 40 employees of Mighty
AI’s Seattle office will join Uber Seattle’s engineering facility.
Uber acquired Mighty AI’s IP, tooling, tech talent and labeling community and Mighty AI’s clients
were notified that operations are being wound down. The acquisition price was not stated.
In Uber’s IPO filing in April, the company stated that it spent $457 million of its $1.5 billion
research and developments costs on autonomous vehicle technologies.
The filing stated: “We have incurred significant losses since inception, including in the United States and other
major markets. We expect our operating expenses to increase significantly in the foreseeable future, and we may not achieve profitability.”
Earlier this week, Apple said it had
acquired the self-driving shuttle firm Drive.ai.