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takyon writes:

Bloomberg News reported on Monday that Google is "preparing to offer its own ride-hailing service, most likely in conjunction with its long-in-development driverless car project". Google is preparing to launch its own ride-hailing service and app despite the fact that its investment arm, Google Ventures, has already invested millions in Uber, including $258 million in its largest investment deal ever, back in August 2013.

David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer and senior vice president of corporate development, joined the Uber board of directors in 2013 and has served on it ever since... Drummond has informed Uber's board of this possibility, according to a person close to the Uber board, and Uber executives have seen screenshots of what appears to be a Google ride-sharing app that is currently being used by Google employees. This person, who requested not to be named because the talks are private, said the Uber board is now weighing whether to ask Drummond to resign his position as an Uber board member.

On the same day, Uber announced that it is building a robotics research lab in Pittsburgh, PA to "kickstart autonomous taxi fleet development," and partnering with Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

Sources tell us Uber is hiring more than fifty senior scientists from Carnegie Mellon as well as from the National Robotics Engineering Center, a CMU-affiliated research entity.

In the past, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has said he would replace human drivers with self-driving cars. The decision to run the facility in Pittsburgh makes perfect sense, given the proximity to CMU and the potential secrecy afforded by moving research out of Silicon Valley.

Commentators have long predicted that Uber would eventually replace its fleshy drivers with robotic cars. Now Uber is one step closer to eliminating human imperfection.