Self-driving car efforts got yet another proponent with Uber’s test cars marked ‘Uber Advanced Technologies Center’ driving around the city, with Uber attempting to deploy a fleet of self-driving cars to eliminate the biggest cost: the actual drivers.

In a bid to offer economical and competitive prices, Uber is testing the autonomous car technology on the public roads of Pittsburgh, near its new research institute at Carnegie Mellon University, Center for Advanced Technologies (CAT).

In 2014, Uber collaborated with Carnegie Mellon scientists to develop self-driving taxis, in the new Uber’s robotics lab. Uber had announced, earlier this year that they would be opening an advanced technologies center in the city to focus on technology such as mapping, vehicle safety, and driverless vehicles.

Travis Kalanick, CEO of Uber asserted, “The reason Uber could be expensive is because you are not just paying for the car, you are paying for the other dude in the car. When there’s no other dude in the car, the cost of taking an Uber anywhere becomes cheaper than owning a vehicle”.

Uber’s research endeavors have been shrouded in mystery, as the company wants to gain a competitive edge amidst several other ongoing researches on the frontier of self-driving cars. Tech giants like Google had begun research on self-driving cars back in 2010 and aim to have these autonomous wonders in the market by 2020. Also, the auto manufacturers are looking to perfect self-driving cars with rumors surrounding the Mercedes' F015 and even Volvo testing similar vehicles.

Trina Smith, Uber spokesperson, divulged limited information that the test drive is a part of early research effort regarding mapping, safety and autonomy systems.

Previously, Brian Johnson, Barclays analyst had ascertained the financially motivated benefits of this driverless technology, by estimating that if the need to hire a driver is eliminated, the riding costs would reduce by as much as 34 cents a mile.