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| A nuTonomy car vehicle out and about during a “self-driving” taxi trial in Singapore. Photograph: Yong Teck Lim/AP |
The world’s first “self-driving” taxi service has been launched in Singapore – albeit with a human backup driver and co-pilot on board for the time being.
Members of the public selected to take part in the trial would be able to hail a free ride through their smartphones, said nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup.
While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several years, nuTonomy said it would be the first to offer rides to the public, beating Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks.
The cars – modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics – had a driver in the front prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in the back watching the car’s computers, the company said. Each was fitted with Lidar, a laser-based detection system like radar.
An Associated Press reporter taking a ride on Wednesday observed that the safety driver had to step on the brakes once, when a car was obstructing the test car’s lane and another vehicle, which appeared to be parked, suddenly began moving in the oncoming lane.
The service would start with six cars, growing to a dozen by the end of the year, said nuTonomy, adding that it aimed to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018.
The first taxis would run in a 2.5 square mile business and residential district called “one-north” and pick-ups and drop-offs will be limited to specified locations, the company said. Riders must have an invitation to use the service, said nuTonomy, adding that dozens of people signed up for the launch and it wanted to add thousands more in the coming months.
The testing time-frame was open-ended, said nuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma. Eventually riders may start paying for the service, with more pick-up and drop-off points added.
NuTonomy, a 50-person company with offices in Massachusetts and Singapore, was formed in 2013 by Iagnemma and Emilio Frazzoli, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who were studying robotics and developing autonomous vehicles for the defence department.
Earlier this year the company won approval from Singapore’s government to test self-driving cars in one-north. NuTonomy has also announced a research partnership with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority.
Auto supplier Delphi Corp, which is also working on autonomous vehicle software, was recently selected to test autonomous vehicles on the island and plans to start next year.
Pang Kin Keong, Singapore’s transport secretary, who heads a government committee on autonomous driving, said: “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.”
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