Coming Soon (2018): The $200k Robo-Taxi
MADISON, Wis. — It’s official. Commercial robotic cars (that are no longer test cars) will hit the road in 2018, not — as previously predicted — two or three years from now.
The headless driver in front of you will no longer be just a little old lady.
Supply chain intelligence collected by Yole Développement, combined with Waymo’s recent acknowledgement that it will launch a ride-hailing service in Arizona in 2018, point to the conclusion that the commercial future of robotic vehicles is already upon us.
$200k per robot taxi , well worth the price if it succeeds in securing a metro transportation foothold for its operators . The race in on . Price to the winner is worth substantially more than landing on the moon 1969. A basic drive by wire ready platform ( prius ) is about $40k, this leaves $160 k for the Robot drive technology : enough for 4k cameras , a high end Lidar , V2X , great GPS, SLAM, and plenty of onboard processing . Net/net : Leading in Metro mobility ( autonomous systems providing a novel mass transit option ) is Trillion $$/ euro opportunity . $200k is a reasonable price to pay to make it to the starting line in 2018.
Ex-professeur d'électronique chez Lycée Albert de Mun
6 年Na Ja
Leadership and Keynote Speaker and member of the Data Science Research Centre at University of Derby
7 年Problems with the arithmetic and assumptions on page three of the article. Taxis will probably not operate 23 hours a day, not enough custom for that. Then, will not average 30 mph for the 23 hours a day, probably 15 mph average, taking account of traffic and customer transfer stops, etc. In London or New York, probably 10 mph average, with a bit of luck. So economics get slightly shot, instead of 230k miles per year, 70k miles to 100k miles per year. With that, the economics are much less favourable.
Transforming transportation: pioneering towards safer journeys
7 年What regulations are in place to allow certification of the autonomous vehicles? The forecast/prediction is based on a technology perspective, where in reality the market might be in for a ‘reset’ if all companies need to proof they can meet a set safety target.
Confidential
7 年Mobile IED and/or WMD. Any Wireless Communications Device or Signal can be Hacked or Defeated. A Clear and Present Danger to Public Health, Safety, Security, and the Environment.