Uber Technologies has announced its acquisition of artificial intelligence research startup Geometric Intelligence. Along with the acquisition, Uber unveils its own artificial intelligence (AI) lab division named Uber AI Labs.

The New York-based artificial intelligence startup will aid the new Uber division to teach computers to think like humans. Uber AI Labs is dedicated to develop cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Like Us on Facebook

Uber’s new division wants to leverage AI for their research in self-driving cars. The American ride-hailing company is interested in developing powerful speech- and image-recognition software akin to Google and Microsoft.

The 15 staff of Geometric Intelligence will move to San Francisco, where Uber is based, to join the Uber AI Labs and help improving the service of the company as well. Among the improvement that the company would like to make are better match carpool riders and more accurate time estimating rider locations and travel. These particular improvements will be helpful on developing Uber software for self-driving autos.

“Uber is in the business of using technology to move people and things in the real world. With all of its complexity and uncertainty, negotiating the real world is a high-order intelligence problem,” the company wrote in a blog post announcement.

Three professors and a graduate student founded Geometric Intelligence in October 2014. Founders are Gary Marcus, a cognitive scientist from NYU; Zoubin Ghahramani, a Cambridge professor of machine learning;  Kenneth Stanley, professor of computer science at the University of Central Florida; and Douglas Bemis, a recent NYU graduate with a PhD in neurolinguistics.

Uber AI Labs will be headed and directed by Marcus, while Ghahramani will be the co-director.

Uber is not the first automotive company that is eyeing for artificial intelligence. Toyota also has an AI lab that has cute little robot that reads emotions, while Honda’s own AI research lab will unveil AI tech at CES in January 2017.

TagsUber, Uber AI Labs, Artificial Intelligence, AI lab, Self-Driving Car, autonomous car, AI