Baidu Has China's First Permits For Fully Driverless Robotaxi Services (newatlas.com) 32
China's first fully autonomous, commercial robotaxi rides -- with no safety drivers -- are about to open for public passengers in Wuhan and Chongqing, marking an inflection point for one of the key technological revolutions of the 21st century. New Atlas reports: The two newly-issued permits allow Baidu to charge for driverless rides within a 13-sq-km (5-sq-mi) area in Wuhan, between 9 am and 5 pm, and within a larger 30-sq-km (11.6-sq-mi) zone in Chonqing's Yongchuan district between 9.30 am and 5.30 pm -- so while they're currently set to avoid peak hours, they'll be mixing it up with plenty of daytime traffic. Each zone will run five 5th-generation Apollo cars, with remote drivers ready to assume control if the vehicles get themselves into any sticky situations. Home base will be watching closely through the cars' camera systems, particularly in these early days.
Baidu's Apollo Go is already the world's biggest robotaxi company, with operations already live in all tier-one Chinese cities using the same 5th-gen car, with backup drivers on board. The company recently revealed its 6th-gen design, its first ground-up fully autonomous car for mass production. The Apollo RT6 will cost just RMB 250,000 (US$37,000) to manufacture, says Baidu, and its optional, removable steering wheel and generous, configurable cabin space will make it one of the first proper mobility pod-type services when it hits the streets commercially in 2023.
Baidu's Apollo Go is already the world's biggest robotaxi company, with operations already live in all tier-one Chinese cities using the same 5th-gen car, with backup drivers on board. The company recently revealed its 6th-gen design, its first ground-up fully autonomous car for mass production. The Apollo RT6 will cost just RMB 250,000 (US$37,000) to manufacture, says Baidu, and its optional, removable steering wheel and generous, configurable cabin space will make it one of the first proper mobility pod-type services when it hits the streets commercially in 2023.
can't do night? (Score:2)
can't do night?
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Underrated comment. Literally all the touted benefits of driverless cars like platooning, accessibility, passenger capacity and safety has been achieved decades ago...by the Vancouver SkyTrain. And that's about the peak of automated transportation right there, because if you can't program for the entire environment, then you need to limit the environment to what you can program for. And that's really not changed in 40 years, with no signs of changing in the foreseeable future, technologically or ethicall
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Let me know when the Vancouver Sky Train goes from my front door to the grocery store.
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Maybe you could get some exercise and walk a few hundred meters (or less) to the nearest public transport stop.
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peace and quiet
EVs are already damn near silent. Or perhaps you're referring to the tendency of road-raged urban dwellers to lay on their horns?
Urban dwelling isn't peaceful. You'll hear your neighbors arguing, opening/closing doors, having sex, children romping around, etc. Also, considering that most TV shows now have the audio mixed so that it blasts you out of your seat during the action sequences if you have the volume turned up to actually hear the dialogue, you'll also get to enjoy hearing that from your neighbo
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Driverless cars are a distraction - a masturbation session - for people who have been totally duped by the auto and oil industries and the people who run these industries.
I'm sure that in your country you grew up in a town with rail service instead of automobiles. You live in a high-rise apartment block within walking distance of a station. Your workplace is within walking distance of another station, nd so is every store and facility you need to visit.
But in a country that has grown up with cars, the distributed automotive infrastructure is already in place. Automated driving makes the same economic sense here that faster trains do in your country.
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in a country that has grown up with cars, the distributed automotive infrastructure is already in place.
Our transportation needs continue to increase, and we continue to build roads, which is stupid.
Automated driving makes the same economic sense here that faster trains do in your country.
It would if it made technical sense, but it doesn't. A lot of duplicated effort is going to be spent doing that by many players when none of it is necessary if you just use rail.
Further, we not only have a lot of rail we're not using (or underutilizing) but we also used to have a lot more rail in service, and abandoned it. Some of it is still there, but most of it would need to be overhauled to be used at all, and
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There is nothing positive about driverless single passenger automobiles.
They are instead sidestepping the MASSIVE infrastructure/spending disaster where countries like the United States spend 10% of their GDP on single passenger auto infrastructure that will continue to be bailed out for several more generations.
Once (if) they get full autonomy, the next step is to go 3D. Then you can reclaim a huge portion of that infrastructure and land. What could possibly go wrong?
Good luck everyone (Score:2)
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And in actual reality, it is a great example what innovation actually looks like. Not that China is fast or very innovative. But the western world has gotten more and more timid and is not getting anywhere in some areas now.
Piss & vomit (Score:2)
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So what happens after the last passenger pissed themselves or vomited on the seat?
The car drives itself to the nearest station where someone cleans it while topping off the battery.
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How does the car know that it's happened?
Vomit and urine contain chemicals that are easy to detect.
A camera would also work, and could detect belongs left behind.
So, it uses smell and sight just as a human driver would.
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We will find out whether that is actually a real issue or not. Not doing it is the choice of fear, not the one of innovation. Incidentally, what happens if somebody just sends your car on fire? Probably more likely as it happens to be _known_ who was in that car at a specific time.
By more stupid arguments for not making the future happen?
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Yes, so? The ones doing this will have to pay for the cleanup and may face criminal proceedings for property damage as well. This really is no valid argument. You should look at what motivates your negative fantasy, because it obviously is not rational.
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You are evading. Means you do not have a good answer. Gotcha.
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Oh boy. (Score:2)
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Yeah, sure, _that_ is going to happen. If you look at all the crap _human_ drivers do and at how many people they kill and maim every year, it is _really_ unlikely for automated vehicles to get anywhere close.
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Good (Score:2)
So this tech will finally get optimized and production ready. Apparently the west cannot do things of this magnitude anymore, so, regrettably, it falls to China to do it. That will come to bite us all in the ass. But at least we are finally getting tech we should have had 10 years ago.