(FILES) This file photo taken on September 13, 2016 shows the cameras on a pilot model of an Uber self-driving car at the Uber Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Uber has grounded its fleet of self-driving cars pending an investigation into the crash of an Uber autonomous vehicle in Arizona, a spokesperson for the car-hailing service said on March26, 2017. No one was seriously injured in the accident which occurred on March 24 in Tempe, Arizona, while the vehicle -- a Volvo SUV -- was in self-driving mode, the company said. / AFP PHOTO / Angelo Merendino
The brief history of the self-driving car is parked in Pittsburgh. Robotic vehicles built by students and professors stand sentry on the campus green at Carnegie Mellon University.
These cars carry scars and dents-one shows rollover damage-from participation in a legendary series of competitions organised by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), a research and development wing of the US military. Many of the engineers involved in those contests went on to launch autonomous vehicle startups that are now steering the future of transportation.
