Tuesday’s NAIOP Pittsburgh chapter meeting was a luncheon that hosted executives from Uber, who explained the company’s Pittsburgh growth strategy. Started in 2009, Uber has grown to more than $20 billion in revenue, with 11,000 employees worldwide. The company’s VP of Strategic Initiatives, David Richter, presented a dizzying set of facts about Uber’s astonishing growth. And while the ride sharing business represents its major revenue stream, it’s clear its future is elsewhere, like autonomous vehicles.

Richter spoke glowingly of Pittsburgh, claiming that Uber was beginning to see cases of San Francisco employees choosing to relocate to the Steel City because of quality of life and the opportunity to work on the next big thing. He also made it clear that it was CMU’s engineering research and grads that were the reason Uber was here.

“There are only four or five cities in the world with that kind of talent in robotics and Pittsburgh is one of them,” he said.

Uber also did a slideshow of its incredible new offices in Lawrenceville, which were designed by Strada and built by Continental Building Co. The $32 million project is modern and clean, with many spaces designed for collaboration. During the course of the presentation Richter also mentioned the payoff for the region: after starting at zero employees in January 2105, Uber now has 550 in Pittsburgh, with roughly 100 new positions open now.

He also noted that the company anticipated needing more space in the near future. After building its new Advanced Technology Center and fitting out about 100,000 sq. ft. in Schreiber Real Estate’s building on 30th Street, Uber has invested nearly $50 million in new testing facilities and track at Almono.