The Pittsburgh Steelers have teamed up with Uber to promote the ride-hailing company’s self-driving vehicles, which hit the streets of downtown Pittsburgh last month.
Steelers defensive ends Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt are among the first to ride in the cars in a promotional video posted on the Steelers’ Twitter account Thursday.
In the video, Heyward hails a ride on the Uber app, telling his teammate, ‘Don’t worry, bro. I got the Uber.’ After requesting the ride, a notification popped up for Heyward, letting him know his ride would be a self-driving one.
The self-driving Uber arrives – which we find out is named Boron, but is immediately nicknamed “B” – and Heyward and Tuitt take their ride throughout the streets of Pittsburgh, mostly on the city’s North Side and the Strip District, where Uber’s Advanced Technologies Center is located. The car deftly appears to navigate traffic on one of the city’s many bridges and swerves to avoid a cyclist on the side of the road.
The full video is worth the watch, partly to see two over-6'5" defensive ends squeeze into the back seat of a Ford Fusion, partly for the surprisingly detailed explanation of Lidar technology, courtesy of Allen from Uber, and partly because Heyward and Tuitt genuinely seem wowed by the technology and want to talk about it with every Pittsburgher they pass on the street.
Toward the end, Tuitt gravely proclaims, "You know what? B is doing a really good job."
Watch the video here: