Have you ever been in an Uber with an extremely creepy or annoying driver? Since one can never have the same driver you can run into some crazies, like the overly friendly driver who wants to know way too much information about you, or the driver who won’t stop playing one song on a loop.

Uber has come up with a way to market toward a new demographic. They are targeting the people who are scared of Uber drivers, annoyed by Uber drivers and people who generally do not want to get in the car with a stranger. It is a self-driving car that will bring you to your location on the fastest route possible for a low amount of money.

While I think this will definitely be a safer option to otherwise getting into the car with a stranger who may or may not have a record, I am also a little hesitant to jump on board with this. The idea for a this self driving car been going on for awhile now about Google and Apple’s self driving cars. However, this is the first time I have heard of Uber testing this.

Boston is such a busy city where you have many self-proclaimed aggressive Massachusetts drivers. When you add in pedestrians, bikers and rush hour drivers it could be a lot to handle for a self-driving car. Boston is a city where people feel free to j-walk and drivers feel fine speeding through a yellow light I am not convinced a self-driving car is going to be able to detect and predict that.

Uber debuted their new tech last week in Pittsburgh and it went surprisingly well. To be fair, they did have a driver and tech employee in the car with the self-driving machine. The engineer with the laptop was there in case the car ventured into unmapped territory. While I think this is a nice idea in theory, I personally would like to know what happens when the car is alone with the individual, and what would occur in the case of a pedestrian jaywalking. This new tech might have worked in Pittsburgh but what makes them think this could work in Boston. Especially at the stage of infancy it is in.

Uber does provide an iPad in the car, which will tell you your route, speed, and even allow you to snap a selfie. However, they have said that they are not planning to let these cars loose alone in the cities for years to come and your self driving car for the time being will always come with a driver. Lyft is also experimenting with GM and says they are 10 years away from debuting their driverless cars, but it will take over more than half of their fleet when they do.

So now the question is: can tech really replace a living, breathing person? I do not think in every case it can. What will Uber do if someone tries to tamper with the car, or a drunken person gets in and damages the car or the iPad? I think that if Uber wants this to be a feasible option we as the consumer are going to need the option to have a self-driving car or a human being. In the long run I can see this becoming a normal thing just like phones have, and I am not complaining if it will lower Uber prices.

Clearly, Uber’s goal is to make a profit and they have to pay for gas, but now the driver’s time will be irrelevant.

So the chances of prices going down is strong and that is a huge benefit to all of us college students. With how much we are paying for MBTA, maybe we will just end up Ubering everywhere by 2020.

Based on how little Uber drivers get paid in comparison to the big checks cut for upper management finding alternative employment might be a benefit to Uber drivers.

If this is the future then why wouldn’t I as a consumer just purchase my own self-driving car? Yes Uber and Lyft might be the first offering this as a service but what’s to say Ford, BMW and Honda are not testing this same innovation right now. Personally I would be more inclined to buy a personal driving car than to Uber or Lyft in one.

I can see a future where self-driving cars are everywhere and always available at the tap of a finger, and I think this is something we will all eventually have to embrace. I also think this car is a great option for all consumers to have. It would be nice if Uber left this as just an option though and hopefully does not push the self-driving cars on all of us. Either way, self-driving cars are a inevitable part of our near future.