/GettyImages-83988175-109a8b498a274a5f83244dca1de32dbe.jpg "How Robot Taxis Will Change Transportation")
Robot taxis are coming soon to a street near you.
Argo AI, a robocar venture backed by Volkswagen and Ford, recently announced plans to deploy the first commercial autonomous taxi service in Germany by 2025. The battery-powered vehicles will be outfitted with laser lidar sensors, radar, cameras, and AI-enabled software. It’s part of the growing interest in self-driving public transportation that could be cheaper and safer than regular cabs.
“When considering an imminent threat, like an animal running in front of a vehicle, the control systems of the vehicle make an instant decision to brake or take other evasive actions,” David Linthicum, the chief cloud strategy officer of Deloitte Consulting, told Lifewire in an email interview. “Self-driving vehicles can do this much faster than typical human reactions, where we must perceive the threat, decide as to how to respond, and then respond with the right, and safest, decision.”
