The start-up nuTonomy, by MIT researchers here, beat Uber's trial slated for end of month
By Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 26 Aug 2016
Singapore yesterday became the first country in the world to have on-demand driverless taxis - a new technology that is touted to disrupt the transport industry.
The service was part of an ongoing trial by nuTonomy, which was founded by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers now based in Singapore.
With that, the start-up won bragging rights as offering the first public road tests of driverless taxis, beating out giants such as Uber which will trial a fleet of driverless cars in Pittsburgh in the United States by the end of this month.
nuTonomy chief operations officer Doug Parker told The Straits Times that it chose to try out the service in Singapore because of the high consumer demand for taxis here, well-maintained roads and clear government regulations for its tests. "Singapore is the best place in the world for self-driving cars," said Mr Parker.
For now, the service is limited to an invited group of about 10 people.
They can use a smartphone app to summon nuTonomy's self-driving vehicle for free rides to one of 12 locations in one-north. These include the Mediacorp Campus and the Genome building, which lie along the 6km stretch of road where nuTonomy has been testing its vehicles since April. Due to safety concerns, the service will not be available during peak hours.
nuTonomy hopes to eventually open the trial to a "few dozen" more people in Singapore before making the service commercially available here in 2018.
It now has just one driverless car - a Mitsubishi i-MiEV - that has been approved by regulators. Another - a Renault Zoe - is pending approval, and four other Zoes are being prepared to be driven autonomously. The fleet will eventually expand to 75 by 2018.
By Zhaki Abdullah, The Straits Times, 26 Aug 2016
Singapore yesterday became the first country in the world to have on-demand driverless taxis - a new technology that is touted to disrupt the transport industry.
The service was part of an ongoing trial by nuTonomy, which was founded by two Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers now based in Singapore.
With that, the start-up won bragging rights as offering the first public road tests of driverless taxis, beating out giants such as Uber which will trial a fleet of driverless cars in Pittsburgh in the United States by the end of this month.
nuTonomy chief operations officer Doug Parker told The Straits Times that it chose to try out the service in Singapore because of the high consumer demand for taxis here, well-maintained roads and clear government regulations for its tests. "Singapore is the best place in the world for self-driving cars," said Mr Parker.
For now, the service is limited to an invited group of about 10 people.
They can use a smartphone app to summon nuTonomy's self-driving vehicle for free rides to one of 12 locations in one-north. These include the Mediacorp Campus and the Genome building, which lie along the 6km stretch of road where nuTonomy has been testing its vehicles since April. Due to safety concerns, the service will not be available during peak hours.
nuTonomy hopes to eventually open the trial to a "few dozen" more people in Singapore before making the service commercially available here in 2018.
It now has just one driverless car - a Mitsubishi i-MiEV - that has been approved by regulators. Another - a Renault Zoe - is pending approval, and four other Zoes are being prepared to be driven autonomously. The fleet will eventually expand to 75 by 2018.
Earlier this month, the Land Transport Authority signed an agreement to collaborate with nuTonomy and UK-based Delphi Automotive Systems to trial such services here.
The trial will allow the evaluation of software system performance, vehicle routing efficiency, the vehicle booking process and overall passenger experience.
nuTonomy chief executive officer and co-founder Karl Iagnemma, said: "The trial represents an extraordinary opportunity to collect feedback from riders in a real-world setting."
Entrepreneur Edward Tiong was among a group of five who tried the service on Monday. He was initially apprehensive about the car's safety, but said his worries soon went away.
"I've been following the technology for a while, so I was quite excited to try it out," said the 26-year-old.
Ms Olivia Seow, who also tried it, said she would "definitely" consider taking driverless taxis once they are widely available. The 25-year-old, who works with start-ups, said: "It would be good if they could also include a carpooling option."
Uber's driverless car service gets on the road
The Straits Times, 15 Sep 2016
PITTSBURGH • Uber has launched a ground-breaking driverless car service, jumping ahead of Detroit car giants and Silicon Valley rivals with technology that could revolutionise transportation.
In an ambitious experiment, a fleet of cars laden with lasers, cameras and other sensors - but with no one's hands on the wheel - were to be deployed by the Web-based ride service on the challenging roads of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, steering themselves to pick up regular Uber passengers.
The Straits Times, 15 Sep 2016
PITTSBURGH • Uber has launched a ground-breaking driverless car service, jumping ahead of Detroit car giants and Silicon Valley rivals with technology that could revolutionise transportation.
In an ambitious experiment, a fleet of cars laden with lasers, cameras and other sensors - but with no one's hands on the wheel - were to be deployed by the Web-based ride service on the challenging roads of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, steering themselves to pick up regular Uber passengers.
Four of the Ford Fusion hybrids, with their ungainly rooftop load of technology, were to be deployed to a select group of customers yesterday. The firm has at least a dozen more cars that are ready to go on the road.
And Uber is well advanced in developing a self-drive car with Sweden's Volvo.
The cars and their backing technology were trained on the city's complicated grid for less than two years, but demonstration rides showed that they were able to handle most situations as ably as many drivers.
Still, just to be sure, the Pittsburgh Uber regulars who summon a driverless car will have two company technicians accompanying them - to make sure everything goes right.
And Uber is well advanced in developing a self-drive car with Sweden's Volvo.
The cars and their backing technology were trained on the city's complicated grid for less than two years, but demonstration rides showed that they were able to handle most situations as ably as many drivers.
Still, just to be sure, the Pittsburgh Uber regulars who summon a driverless car will have two company technicians accompanying them - to make sure everything goes right.
One will sit behind the wheel, with hands at the ready to take over in sticky spots, while the other will monitor the car's behaviour.
Uber did not give a timeline, but it aims to eventually deploy just one technician - still behind the wheel - to intervene and satisfy existing state policies that require a driver in a car. The goal, Uber executives said, is to make zero interventions, and have no technician along for the ride.
However, Uber was beaten to the punch at launching the first driverless call service by the Singapore start-up nuTonomy, which put six cars on the road in the Republic last month in a trial service.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
However, Uber was beaten to the punch at launching the first driverless call service by the Singapore start-up nuTonomy, which put six cars on the road in the Republic last month in a trial service.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
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