Uber is exploring ways to make its self-driving cars also be self-cleaning

USPTO

Uber has applied to patent a robotic vacuum, like the one pictured here, to clean its self-driving cars.

• Uber has filed a patent application with US regulators for a robotic vacuum system to keep its self-driving cars clean.
• The filing also reveals plans for an artificial intelligence-powered camera system to detect soiled spots or items that passengers may have left behind.
• Autonomous vehicles are key to Uber's plan for eventually turning a profit, something it has struggled to do thus far.
• Ideas detailed in patents often don't make their way into a company's product lineup, but it at least shows Uber has explored the idea.
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Keeping cars clean is a never-ending task for Uber drivers, and the company is already exploring ways to make sure its vehicles stay spotless when there's no driver around to clean them.

According to a new patent application spotted by Business Insider in late November, Uber has considered using a robotic vacuum system to keep self-driving cars clean in between rides. The system could also use cameras and artificial intelligence to detect if passengers leave any items behind, like phones, keys, or wallets, according to the application.

"When a vehicle is operated in a fully autonomous mode, there may not be a human driver present to monitor the state of the interior of the vehicle," Uber said in the filing. "For example, in a non-autonomous vehicle, a driver can determine if objects are left behind in the vehicle and can monitor when the vehicle interior needs to be cleaned to provide a desired standard of service to users." An Uber representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

It's important to note that companies can file a wide variety of patents for ideas that never actually make their way into an actual product. But at the very least, patents offer a window into concepts and ideas the company has explored.

In another iteration envisioned in Uber's patent application, the robotic vacuum arm could also be placed in the car's trunk, and reach over the passenger seats to clean.

Self-driving cars are a key bet by Uber as the company seeks to calm anxious investors and eventually turn its first profit. Paying drivers is one of the company's biggest expenses, which stands to be reduced greatly as rides are provided by its own autonomous driving systems.

Cameras, of course, are necessary to power the robotic cleaning system, and their presence inside Uber vehicles has already raised concern.

In November, the company said it would expand video recording of passengers in some locations in order to help solve fare disputes and monitor safety. That data collection caused alarm for some privacy advocates.

"Uber already has this treasure trove of highly personal data about people," Camille Fischer, a lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told The New York Times. "When you pair surveillance during those trips, whether it's over the driver or over the passenger, you are getting a more fine-tuned snapshot of people's daily lives."

Uber's self-driving car program has also come under scrutiny from federal agencies in recent years. The National Transportation Safety Board said in a November meeting that the company's "ineffective safety culture" was partly to blame in the 2018 death of an Arizona pedestrian who was struck by an Uber autonomous vehicle. Chairman Robert Sumwalt said at that meeting that the company had been proactive in working with investigators.

"I did notice that when I talked to their CEO he did not hang up on me," he said, referring to an instance where Tesla's CEO Elon Musk did just that.

"It would be easy just to thumb it off. Blow it off. Say, NTSB, they're wrong, they're bad, and hang up on us. But Uber has not done that."

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