World’s First Self-Driving Taxis Debut in Singapore

The world’s first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore on Thursday which will run in a 2.5-square-mile (6.5 square kilometer) business and residential district called “one-north,” and pick-ups and drop-offs are limited to specified locations.

Select members of the public can hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by 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 says is the first to offer rides to the public.

Its launch in Singapore is beating ride-hailing service Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks.

According to the company, they’re starting small with six cars now, growing to a dozen by the end of the year. The ultimate goal, company executives say, is to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018, to help cut the number of cars on Singapore’s congested roads.

Riders must have an invitation from nuTonomy to use the service. The company says dozens have signed up for the launch, and it plans to expand that list to thousands of people within a few months.

Car Explained
The cars modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics have a driver in front who is prepared to take back the wheel and a researcher in back who watches the car’s computers. Each car is fitted with six sets of Lidar a detection system that uses lasers to operate like radar – including one that constantly spins on the roof. There are also two cameras on the dashboard to scan for obstacles and detect changes in traffic lights.

Doug Parker, nuTonomy’s Chief Operating Officer, said autonomous taxis could ultimately reduce the number of cars on Singapore’s roads from 900,000 to 300,000.

“When you are able to take that many cars off the road, it creates a lot of possibilities. You can create smaller roads, you can create much smaller car parks,” Parker said. “I think it will change how people interact with the city going forward.”[related-posts]

Auto supplier Delphi Corp., which also is working on autonomous vehicle software, was recently selected to test autonomous vehicles on the island and plans to start next year.

“We face constraints in land and manpower. We want to take advantage of self-driving technology to overcome such constraints,” said Pang Kin Keong, Singapore’s Permanent Secretary for Transport and the chairman of its committee on autonomous driving.

An Associated Press reporter taking a ride Wednesday saw the safety driver step on the brakes once, when a car was obstructing the test car’s lane and another vehicle, which had appeared to be parked, suddenly began moving in the oncoming lane.

NuTonomy CEO Karl Iagnemma, said the company is confident that its software can make good decisions. The company hopes its head start in autonomous driving will eventually lead to partnerships with automakers, tech companies, logistics companies and others.

“What we’re finding is the number of interested parties is really overwhelming,” he said.

NuTonomy is also working on testing similar taxi services in other Asian cities, the U.S. and Europe, but he wouldn’t say when.