A US-based start-up company that develops software for self-driving cars recently put their work to the test when they had a limited public trial for the world’s first driverless taxi in Singapore.
Hoping to get feedback ahead of a planned full launch of the service in 2018, the company, called nuTonomy, invited a select group of people to download their app and ride for free in its “robo-taxi” in a western Singapore business district called one-north, which is dominated by tech firms and biotechnology companies.
The trial rides use a Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEv electric vehicles, with an engineer sitting behind the steering wheel to monitor the system and take control if necessary.They currently have a fleet of six cars. Each of them has a complex system of lasers that operate like a radar to monitor the car’s surrounding. In addition there are cameras that work with the software.
The taxis will run in a limited 2.6 sq mile (4 sq km) area in the west of the city-state with designated pick-up and drop-off spots.
Following private testing that began in April, the public trial is currently in an on-going basis.
Only a few dozen people are part of the programme so far since you have to first receive an invitation from nuTonomyand then register to participate. The firm plans to expand the service to thousands of people within a few months.
nuTonomy also became the first company earlier this year that was given permission by the Singapore government to test self-driving cars in a small area of the town. According to nuTonomy executive Doug Parker, the company has partnered with the Singapore government for the project and they are hoping to have 100 taxis working commercially in the Southeast Asian citystate by 2018.
The companywas founded in 2013 by two researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who specialisein robotics and driverless technology. They have offices in both the US and Singapore.
Other companies are also close behind nuTonomy in terms of driverless technology. Ride-hailing giant Uber Technologies Inc.is also planning a very similar project to be launched in Pittsburgh in the US in a few weeks’ time.
Israeli driving assistant software maker Mobileye NV said its vehicle, developed with Delphi Automotive Plc, would be ready for production by 2019. Ford Motor Co. said its self-driving car was slated for 2021.
Alphabet’s Googlewas in fact amongst the first to pioneer and extensively test its driverless Google car and has teamed up with a number of car makers for their research.