Photo: Cruise
Developments on this front seem to have settled down a bit over the past few years, but autonomous taxi services for crowded cities are advancing in the shadows to eventually become part of our lives. And that may happen as soon as 2026.
That's the year when the "first of its kind" driverless ride-hail service is expected to launch in Japan. And it's not coming from some overconfident startup, but from American giant GM and its partner in this crime, Honda.
The two have been the pillars supporting a San Francisco-based company called Cruise for several years now. The stated goal of the effort is to help build a world where there are zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, at least when it comes to driving and being transported within city limits.
Cruise is already conducting a sort of trial run of its autonomous technologies in four American cities, namely San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, and Houston. In all these places the Cruise autonomous tech has amassed according to the numbers available five million miles (eight million km) of travel and 100,000 trips – making for an average of 50 miles (80 km) per run.
But the first true, large-scale deployment of the technology seems to be happening in Japan. That's because this week GM announced the establishment of a new joint venture with Honda to help roll out a ridehail service in the country three years from now.
To be fair, we have been expecting this for several years now (most recently Honda revealed this development in 2022) but, unlike what is happening in the U.S., where tests are being conducted on autonomous Chevrolet Bolt machines, the Japanese will be getting the Origin.
That's a driverless bus of sorts shown for the first time back in 2020. It can carry up to six people at a time, uncomfortably seated face-to-face, and chauffeured around by an artificial intelligence mind that uses over 40 sensors and a 360-degree view to get a sense of where it is and what it is supposed to do.
To support the new service the Americans have committed to making no less than 500 Origin vehicles, which will be put together at the Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly facility in Michigan.
So far we only know the name of a single city where the Origin will be deployed, and that's the Japanese capital, Tokyo. The place happens to be one of the most congested cities on the planet (constantly in the top 20 of the world's most crowded places), and that makes it not only a market with huge challenges but also one with huge potential.
Separately, Cruise is also planning to expand its presence in 12 additional U.S. cities over the coming years.
The two have been the pillars supporting a San Francisco-based company called Cruise for several years now. The stated goal of the effort is to help build a world where there are zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion, at least when it comes to driving and being transported within city limits.
Cruise is already conducting a sort of trial run of its autonomous technologies in four American cities, namely San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, and Houston. In all these places the Cruise autonomous tech has amassed according to the numbers available five million miles (eight million km) of travel and 100,000 trips – making for an average of 50 miles (80 km) per run.
But the first true, large-scale deployment of the technology seems to be happening in Japan. That's because this week GM announced the establishment of a new joint venture with Honda to help roll out a ridehail service in the country three years from now.
To be fair, we have been expecting this for several years now (most recently Honda revealed this development in 2022) but, unlike what is happening in the U.S., where tests are being conducted on autonomous Chevrolet Bolt machines, the Japanese will be getting the Origin.
That's a driverless bus of sorts shown for the first time back in 2020. It can carry up to six people at a time, uncomfortably seated face-to-face, and chauffeured around by an artificial intelligence mind that uses over 40 sensors and a 360-degree view to get a sense of where it is and what it is supposed to do.
To support the new service the Americans have committed to making no less than 500 Origin vehicles, which will be put together at the Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly facility in Michigan.
So far we only know the name of a single city where the Origin will be deployed, and that's the Japanese capital, Tokyo. The place happens to be one of the most congested cities on the planet (constantly in the top 20 of the world's most crowded places), and that makes it not only a market with huge challenges but also one with huge potential.
Separately, Cruise is also planning to expand its presence in 12 additional U.S. cities over the coming years.
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