Google may be getting serious competition after all, with more and more companies announcing their own projects too. Take this Tokyo-based start-up that will be sending its first self-driving car fleet on the public roads next year, with the hopes that an entirely operational system will be integrated before visitors landing int Tokyo for the Summer Olympics.
Named Robot Taxi, the start-up is a joint venture between DeNA Co., a video games maker, and ZMP Inc., a developer of automated driving technologies. According to Japan Times, the company announced Thursday that it will invite residents to try out an experimental self-driving taxi on public roads early next year.
The self-driving cars will drive 50 residents from Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, which is designated a National Strategic Special Zone, for small distances. The trials are part of a bigger project, as the country is planning to have this service up and running for the international Olympic event.
There are dozens of similar companies doing such experiments worldwide - you might say, and you’d be right, but there’s a huge difference. Once these robotic freaks will reach the streets, they will become the first among autonomous vehicles to ride on public roads that will chauffeur the city’s inhabitants. Those who will be riding in Robot Taxi’s cars are regular people, not engineers or programmers like Google is currently using for instance.
According to the source, the Kanagawa Prefectural Government said it has conducted experiments with automated cars on expressways before, but this particular one will be the first to use local roads and residents.
“This time, the robot taxi experiment will be conducted on actual city streets. I think this is quite amazing,” Kanagawa Gov. Yuji Kuroiwa told reporters on Thursday’s at a media launch in Yokohama. Moreover, the company added it will conduct a two more trials to see how these autonomous vehicles could be used in the event of natural disasters.
Google News