NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ride-sharing service Uber rolled out its self-driving car fleet in Pittsburgh, PA on Wednesday.
For a limited time, Uber riders can hail free rides in these self-driving cars, which will have a safety driver in the front seat. An Uber engineer will be on the passenger side to monitor the ride and take over if need be.
One Uber engineer commented that Pittsburgh was the "double black diamond of driving," CNBC's Kayla Tausche noted on "Squawk Alley" on Wednesday morning.
That's probably true, CNBC guest and Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto admitted. "Pittsburgh's a very hilly terrain. It has all four seasons. But you know, it's a city that was built in the 19th century and it wasn't really designed for automobiles," he explained.
One engineer said that the challenge was a good thing. "If we can prove we can do this in Pittsburgh, then we can prove we can do it anywhere," according to Peduto.
Despite the less than ideal driving conditions, Pittsburgh is the "most logical place" for Uber to launch its self-driving car service, he said. In the 1970s, Carnegie Mellon launched the first robotics program in the world and in the 1990s the college sent a driver from Pittsburgh to Washington D.C. and back without touching the wheel, he said.
"So we've been running autonomous vehicles in Pittsburgh through Carnegie Mellon for years," Peduto explained.
