Driverless taxis hit the streets of Singapore

THE world’s first driverless taxis went into operation yesterday in Singapore in a limi t e d publ i c t r i a l , beat i ng giants like Uber in the race to rol l out the revolutionar y technology.

The “robo-taxi service” is being tested at a small research campus well away from the thrum of the Asian business hub.

Data from the experiment will feed into the roll-out of driverless taxis across the citystate in 2018, said nuTonomy, a US-based tech start-up that developed the software used in the vehicles.

“The trial represents an extraordinary opportunity to collect feedback from riders in a real-world setting,” said nuTonomy chief executive and co-founder Karl Iagnemma.

“This feedback will give nuTonomy a unique advantage as we work toward deployment of a self-driving vehicle fleet in 2018,” he said.

The six taxis – Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric vehicles – will operate in a 2.5 square mile (4 square kilometre) area, with set pick-up and drop-off points.

Trips have to be booked through the company’s smartphone app.