Singapore launched world’s first “self-driving” taxi service with one backup driver and a co-pilot during the test ride.
The test car had a backup driver in the front seat to take back the wheel in case of emergency on Wednesday, 24th August. There was also a researcher, who was watching the computer of the car. Each car also had a laser-based detection system ‘Lider’.
During the ride, the safety driver had to hit the brake once, when another car obstructed the lane of the test car and another parked car started to move in the oncoming lane.
NuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma informed that the time-frame of the testing was open-ended.
The autonomous vehicle software startup, nuTonomy informed that people, who took part in the trial, would get a free ride through their smartphones. NuTonomy also informed that they would be the first company to offer rides to the public.
The nuTonomy authorities revealed that the service would begin with six cars, which would grow to a dozen cars before 2017. NuTonomy also informed that they are aiming to start fully self-driving taxis in Singapore by 2018.
The transport secretary of Singapore, Pang Kin Keong informed, “We face constraints in land and manpower. We want to take advantage of self-driving technology to overcome such constraints, and in particular to introduce new mobility concepts which could bring about transformational improvements to public transport in Singapore.”
NuTonomy is a company, which was formed in 2013 by researchers Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. NuTonomy has offices in Singapore and Massachusetts.
Previously, Uber revealed their plan to offer car rides in autonomous cars near Pittsburgh.
