Global cab aggregator Uber has announced that it would invest up to $154 million (Can$200 million) over five years for the purpose of expanding its Toronto lab which is concerned with developing artificial intelligence for self-driving cars.
Along with this, the company is planning to open a new engineering office in Canada’s largest metropolis in early 2019. Uber’s new engineering hub will join the company’s efforts to launch the new features for its app.
Also, they would expand into other modes of transportation such as electric bikes and scooters, as well as partnerships with public transit.
In the 15 months since the Uber lab led by University of Toronto professor and machine learning expert Raquel Urtasun opened, it has delivered “significant technical breakthroughs towards making self-driving at scale a safe and reliable reality for millions of people around the world,” it said.
The company also claimed that its launch will create hundreds of local jobs that will have a global impact. In recent months, Canada has attracted significant foreign investment in the field of artificial intelligence.
Companies including Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Thales have made considerable investments there.