Pittsburgh has been experiencing a technology boom for the past few years. Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh have been the center of the boom, with advancements in artificial intelligence and machine learning coming from each institution every year.
Carnegie Mellon is home to some of the nation’s greatest minds and talents when it comes to technology, which is why companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and Uber have opened offices in Pittsburgh in recent years.
In 2014, for the first time, Pittsburgh was home to more jobs in the scientific and research fields than in iron and steel mills. The gap has widened over the years and now there are over 40% more jobs in R&D than there are in Pittsburgh’s more traditional industries.
Also, for the first time in Pittsburgh’s history, people are moving to the city to seek jobs in the field of technology. Furthermore, many people who are considered big shots in the tech world, such as Luis von Ahn have decided to make Pittsburgh their home. Von Ahn attended Carnegie Mellon and earned his Ph.D. there in 2005. He was incredibly successful. He sold two companies to Google and could easily have made a name for himself in the biggest cities in the world. His decision to remain in Pittsburgh speaks to the city’s place in the world of technology.
Some of the most prominent advancements have been self-driving vehicles, which can sometimes be seen making their way through the city. Five different companies are testing self-driving cars in the city and its suburbs. Most notably, Uber has been testing self-driving cars in Pittsburgh for years, although they paused tests after a self-driving car killed a woman in Arizona in 2018.
It will be interesting to see how Pittsburgh continues to grow in the field of technology. It’s not far-fetched to imagine that some of the future’s most life-changing advancements will be born right here.