The first driverless taxi hit the roads of Singapore on Thursday, in a limited public trial taking place in a hi-tech business district in a western part of the country (via Reuters).
Developer nuTonomy invited a select group of people to download their ride hailing app and ride for free in its "robo-taxi", saying it hoped to get feedback ahead of a planned launch of the service in 2018.
"This is really a moment in history that's going to change how cities are built, how we really look at our surroundings," nuTonomy executive Doug Parker told Reuters.
The ongoing trial rides are taking place in Mitsubishi i-MiEv electric vehicles, with an engineer sitting behind the wheel to monitor how the system deals with the road and take control if necessary.
The company has partnered with the Singapore government on the project, and hopes to have 100 taxis working commercially in the Southeast Asian city state by 2018.
NuTonomy is one of several companies racing to launch self-driving vehicles, with new projects or alliances between automakers and technology firms being announced on an almost weekly basis.
Last week, Uber announced it would begin allowing customers in Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from within its ride-hailing app, while Ford announced plans to build a fleet of fully automated driverless cars for commercial ride-sharing by 2021. In June it was reported that Uber had held talks with Fiat Chrysler about a potential partnership involving self-driving car technology.
Apple has been the source of many self-driving automobile rumors since last year, but it's now thought the company's first entrance into the vehicle industry likely won't be autonomous, although later generations of its "Apple Car" would probably include the technology.
However, over the summer reports suggested that Apple is taking a "two-prong approach" to its car development, internally known as "Project Titan", and will focus more on creating its own autonomous driving system rather than manufacturing the vehicle.
Top Rated Comments
There will be deaths but the robocars don't need to be perfect. They just need to be better than humans and humans suck at driving.
I hope this goes widespread while I am still young enough to enjoy it. Studying on my commute. Or sleeping. Having kids picked up from school by robocars.
Downtowns reclaimed from
Parking lots, but people suburbs booming because commute time does not matter. Options to choose schools outside districts because commute to school not matter. Housing prices detached from school districts. The potential changes from robocars are absolutely amazing. It is probably the next most disruptive technology since cell phones.
That's where I disagree. There's no improvement made. It's a downgrade as you're taking a driver with a mind, to make decisions, and trying to replace it with a very incomplete computer program.
There are sensor technology innovations, but those would better serve drivers. I'm sure some of that will happen, but way too much money is being distracted by the autonomous efforts. And, that's besides the danger it poses.
No, they won't. They'll be better in some regards (i.e.: where they plug a hole in human limitations... like a sensor that can check a blind-spot, or sensor that could detect a deer in the brush), but worse in others (like actually figuring out what is a road and what isn't, or 'reading' the intent of another driver or pedestrian, etc.).
Trains (automated) work because they are on tracks and the whole system is automated. Even then, it's possible for a train to hit someone who falls on the tracks, or be disrupted by nature in some way (i.e.: a tree falls in the way, and a sensor isn't scanning for it appropriately).
re: not trying to die - maybe tell that to the guy who had his head lopped off in the Tesla recently.
No, not very well. And, that's the problem. *IF* we installed sensors in all roads, or mapped them to an incredible amount of detail... and *IF* ALL vehicles were automated... and *IF* sensor technology gets good enough to detect ALL obstacles that come up unexpectedly... and *IF* programmers can account for all the possible unpredictable things that can still happen. Then, it would work pretty well.
The above is nearly impossible, though, without incredible changes to the entire system. And, even then, will it ultimately be worth it? If all of the above were accomplished, I'll agree that it would probably reduce vehicle deaths. But, we could *easily* accomplish much the same effect if we used the new technology to assist drivers, and tighten up some on licensing requirements and enforcement of existing regulations.
Even though cars are way safer than they have been in the past, most accidents are pretty avoidable. (i.e.: they are due to people being stupid, lack of training, etc.)
Look, I've been a new technology adopter my whole life. But new tech and sci-fantasy are two different things. Yes, I do love cars and driving. I realize not everyone shares my enthusiasm about it. But, I also know a good deal about the limitations of technology and mind-body problem, etc.
To put it simply: AI can do many things, but the way the media and many people view it, is a pipe-dream. These 'autonomous' vehicles will only work as well as the sensors and the software. Have you used a computer recently???
You know, even as a car enthusiast, that sounds wonderful. I could maybe have my collector's ePorsche in the garage (which might be impractical for daily living) and just hail a vehicle from a service when I need one; take the ePorsche out to the countryside or track on nice days. Sign me up! I'm just telling you that it isn't going to work like you think.
With enough sensor tech advancement, and extremely good mapping in some urban areas, I'm sure the taxi thing will happen. (And feel like riding with a drunken first-day drivers ed student.) As long as they go really slow and are overly cautious, too many people won't get killed. But, as a whole, this isn't going to go well. I just hope too many won't have to be sacrificed until the hype dissolves.