In the spring of next year, Uber will begin testing their robotaxi in London-we are talking about completely autonomous cars in which there will be no driver at the wheel, BBC writes.
The taxi service will work in partnership with the British company Wayve, specializing in the development of unmanned vehicles running artificial intelligence. Now her technologies are tested on the streets of London under human control, in accordance with local norms. This was announced after the British government again revised the regulation in the field of unmanned vehicles.
Initially, the launch of unmanned vehicles in the country was planned for 2026, then was transferred to the second half of 2027. However, now the authorities have announced an accelerated program for introducing autonomous commercial services – such as unmanned taxis and buses – so that they can appear on the roads earlier.
It is not yet known whether users can use Uber unmanned vehicles as part of tests – the company clarifies that the details are still under development.
In March, Uber has already launched robotax in Austin, Texas. There, unmanned vehicles operate up to 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Passengers can choose a trip to an autonomous car if it is available, and the fare does not differ from the usual one. In the same city, Tesla plans to launch its competing autonomous taxi service – the start is scheduled for June.
Completely autonomous cars have already overcome millions of kilometers on public roads in different countries, including China, the UAE and Singapore. Nevertheless, the question of how much safer, or more dangerous, ordinary cars, or more dangerous, remains open.
Studies based on data from the United States show that autonomous transport falls into an accident less often than vehicles driven by people. However, in countries where robotaxi is already working, various incidents were recorded – from an accident to cases where passengers could not get out of the salon.