MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Sources say Google is looking into launching a rideshare service that would rival Uber.
Google has been a investor for Uber since the middle of 2013, initially putting $258 million into the company, says Bloomberg Business. Now, sources say Uber has been warned that Google will likely launch a rival to the car service.
There is speculation that the new service from Google would work with the company's existing autonomous vehicle technology. "The technology would be such that you can call up the vehicle and tell it where to go and then have it take you there," Chris Urmson, an executive at Google X, said in a conference call recently.
Furthermore, Uber has announced it's teaming up with Carnegie Melon University to study making autonomous vehicles that could be used for the car service. "As a global leader in urban transportation, we have the unique opportunity to invest in leading edge technologies to enable the safe and efficient movement of people and things at giant scale," said Jeff Holden, chief product officer for Uber.
The company and university will work together at a new "advanced technologies center" in Pittsburgh, Penn., near Carnegie Melon's campus.
