The hybrid Ford Fusion, is being tested in Pittsburgh. An earlier prototype of the vehicle was spotted last year in the same area.

The car uses "radars, laser scanners, and high resolution cameras to map details of the environment." With the vehicle, Uber is gathering mapping data and trying out the car's self-driving capabilities.

At the moment the car can only operate when a driver is behind the wheel, so Uber has not reached the point where it does not have to worry about paying drivers.

Actually Uber is still in the early days of our self-driving efforts so it might be a while. The car accelerates, brakes, steers and perform other basic functions on its own. It switches out of self-driving mode with a loud beep if its sensors detect a car swerving into its lane or it encounters something it does not recognise or know how to negotiate.

The driver can take control of the car at any time. The car's sensors can detect parked cars sticking out into traffic, jaywalkers, and bicyclists and in one case a goose walking out into the road.

In our view it is largely pointless. If you are worried that the car might turn over control to you at any moment you are going to be incredibly unrelaxed – particularly driving in Rome. Uber of course wants to replace its drivers which are always the weak point of its business model. Not only do they want paying they also cause PR problems by driving badly or in one case raping a client.