SOFTWARE developer nuTonomy has started the very first trial of driverless taxis in Singapore.
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nuTonomy has beaten Uber to become the world’s first self-driving taxi provider.
NuTonomy’s test vehicles, a Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric auto, will have a computer engineer and backup human driver during the trial phase in case anything goes wrong, and can be hailed by select members of the public using a smartphone app, the company said.
If the ongoing tests are successful the company hopes to expand its self-driving auto fleet by 2018 to help cut the number of cars on Singapore’s congested roads.
The company, which is a ride-hailing start-up has begun the beta testing of its autonomous taxis, which are running on the streets of Singapore.
Also, in the beta phase, the company is only working in a coverage area of 2.5-square miles, in a business cum residential district of Singapore, called “One-North” and pickup as well as dropping points are also now designated and are limited to a few selected points.
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. And riders must have an invitation from nuTonomy to utilize the service.
The vehicles used are modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics with a driver in the front who is prepared to take over at any time, and a researcher in the back who monitors the car’s computers. Each auto 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. The company intends to expand this list to thousands of people within the next few months.
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“What we’re finding is the number of interested parties is really overwhelming”, he said.
