A small autonomous taxi service in Singapore might seem like small news, but it’s the first proper fully autonomous taxi service there has ever been, and the date it launched – Thursday 25 August 2016 – will mark the start of a technology revolution that will change the world.
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The world’s first self-driving taxis are here and big names like Volvo, Ford, Uber and even Google should start worrying.
Autonomous vehicle software startup nuTonomy has began to offer selected members of the public free rides in an Uber style pickup service in a controlled 2.5 square mile area around One-North.
nuTonomy, a software company, has developed a smartphone app which residents in Singapore can download and use to book the self-driving vehicle in future.
It’s also in a country the size of a small city, Singapore, and then in a small business district of that city, a city state with very ordered traffic and roads and one where private cars are limited in number due to enormous taxation. Each vehicle gets six sets of Lidar – a detection system that uses lasers to operate like radar, one of which is mounted on the roof that constantly spins to detect obstacles in the car’s way.
An Associated Press reporter using the service on Wednesday observed that the safety driver had to brake once, when a auto was obstructing the taxi’s lane and another vehicle, which appeared to be parked, suddenly moved into the oncoming lane.
So far, dozens have signed up for the launch, and it plans to expand that list to thousands of people within a few months. “You can create smaller roads [and] you can create much smaller auto parks”, said Parker.
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Throughout the trial, nuTonomy will collect and evaluate valuable data related to software system performance, vehicle routing efficiency, the vehicle booking process, and the overall passenger experience.
