Uber buys AI firm to advance push on autonomous cars

Uber said Wednesday it has acquired computer vision startup Mighty AI to help advance its technology for self-driving cars.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the ride-hailing giant said some 40 employees from the Seattle-based firm would join Uber's advanced technology group developing plans for autonomous taxis.

Mighty AI specialises in computer vision, a field within artificial intelligence that is used to better understand or "label" the surroundings of vehicles that will be deployed autonomously.

"The team at Mighty AI has built technology to label at scale using the latest AI and user experience techniques," said Jon Thomason, vice president of software engineering for the Uber division.

"Training our AI at increasing pace is critical to scaling our self-driving technology, and I look forward to bringing Mighty AI's technology together with our existing labelling automation expertise to help us move even faster."
Daryn Nakhuda, Mighty AI's chief executive, said in a statement released by Uber: "I'm excited to pair Mighty AI's platform and expertise in generating high-quality labelled data with Uber ATG's world-class research and engineering to accelerate the development of self-driving technology."