AMR Future Brief| How Are Robotaxi Services Transforming the Urban Transportation Scenario in Major Metropolitan Cities

One of the latest developments in the field of automobile manufacturing is the emergence of autonomous cars. Though the idea of autonomous or self-driving vehicles first came up in the 1920s, significant breakthroughs in this field were made in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2017, the Google Self-Driving Car Project, now called Waymo, announced that it had begun the testing of autonomous vehicles; in 2018, the company launched the first robotaxi service in Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, many other automobile manufacturers have rolled out their plans to develop self-driving cars and start their robotaxi services globally.?

Addressing urban traffic congestion issues with robotaxi services?

A positive development in the autonomous vehicles industry is that many governments across the world have passed laws that allow companies to kickstart their pilot projects and test their prototypes on public roads. Policymakers have taken such a decision as many think tanks and government studies have pointed out that the use of autonomous vehicles can solve the issue of urban vehicular traffic congestion in the long run.?

For example, a study done in Lisbon, Portugal has shown that the introduction of autonomous vehicles could reduce traffic in the city by around 87% in the years to come. Many other such research articles have been published by urban planning experts which highlight that the launch of robotaxi services in metropolitan cities and industrial towns would reduce the intercity transit times substantially. Moreover, these transportation services would also free up parking spaces as driverless cars would always be on the move. Also, as autonomous vehicles work without any human intervention, the risk of accidents is expected to reduce significantly once these robotaxi services are launched.?

Carmakers like Hyundai and Zoox to launch their prototypes in the next few years?

The COVID-19 pandemic witnessed a massive decline in the growth rate of the automotive manufacturing sector as the supply of raw materials was hampered and the demand for cars and bikes was also reduced drastically. To tackle this issue, vehicle manufacturers like Zoox and Hyundai invested heavily in advanced technologies to develop self-driving cars and boost the demand for automobiles once again. As a result, the R&D activities related to self-driving cars have accelerated in the post-pandemic era.?

For instance, in 2023, Hyundai, a South Korean automobile manufacturer, in collaboration with Aptiv, an automotive technology developer, launched a joint venture viz., Motional, for dedicated research and development of self-driving cars and introducing robotaxi services. Recently, Motional announced the launch of IONIQ 5, a driverless car, that will be scaled in the coming few months for officially introducing driverless taxi (robotaxi) services in different cities. Similarly, Zoox, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, recently issued a press release stating that it would be launching a robotaxi service in Las Vegas in the next few months. In 2018, Zoox became the first company to receive approval from the government to launch self-driving transportation facilities in California. Subsequently, the company conducted its open-road trials with passengers in the first half of 2023. The trials proved to be a success, as a result of which the company has expanded its operations in Las Vegas.?

As seen from the above two developments, automobile manufacturers have partnered with multinational IT companies to develop software applications and operating systems for powering robotaxis. These IT companies are mainly designing algorithms that will aid in high-resolution mapping of the roads and public infrastructure like traffic signals, utility poles, bus stands, pedestrian walkways, etc.?? Furthermore, data analytics software applications have been developed to analyze data captured in real-time while the car is in motion. Finally, the partnership between car manufacturers and IT companies in developing advanced autonomous vehicles offers significant benefits for the environment and ecology. The deployment of self-driving cars in urban areas is expected to reduce the air pollution caused by vehicular emissions substantially.? Simultaneously, the development of electric autonomous vehicles is expected to bring down the dependence on fossil fuels in the near future.?

Summing up??

In the post-pandemic period, governments across the globe have taken an active interest in reducing urban vehicular traffic congestion in metropolitan cities and granted approvals for open road testing of autonomous vehicles. Automobile companies, at the same time, have invested heavily in R&D activities related to self-driving cars to revive the manufacturing industry from the pandemic-induced collapse. As a result of these efforts, many leading players are also ready to launch robotaxi services in the near future.??

For a detailed analysis of the growth drivers and investment opportunities in the driverless taxi (robotaxi) services industry,?contact us , today!?

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? **?????????????? ????????????: Akhilesh Prabhugaonkar ?

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