Freestanding taxis will arrive in London in 2021

Posted by Md Khann on December 18th, 2019

The promise is a partnership between Addison Lee, a London taxi company, and Oxford startup Oxbotica. announced this Monday, the 22nd
 

ALEXANDRE PELANGI

In just three years, Londoners will be able to hail an autonomous taxi in the English capital. All these thanks to a new partnership made by taxi company Addison Lee with Oxbotica autonomous vehicle software (driverless). The partner was announced on Monday, October 22, 2018.

The two companies say they will work together to develop, deploy and operate autonomous vehicles in the capital by 2021. cheap airport taxi London

Oxbotica, founded in Oxford in 2014, is developing software that drives autonomous vehicles and is considered one of the world's leading driverless software startups. To get an idea of ​​her ability and importance, she was recently chosen to guide the future Mars Rover of the European Space Agency.

The company is already conducting tests in three parts of the city - Greenwich, Gatwick, and Heathrow - and is working on a project to enable the driverless vehicle fleet to travel between London and the city of Oxford. Last September, the startup announced a £ 14 million investment to expand its autonomous activities worldwide. 

Speaking about the new partnership for the English Evening Standard, Oxbotica CEO Graeme Smith said the two companies are taking a major step towards achieving future mobility.

"This represents a huge leap towards bringing autonomous vehicles for routine use on the streets of London and eventually in cities across the UK and beyond," he said.

However, much remains to be planned and developed before autonomous cars can hit the road.

The two companies will work together to create detailed digital maps covering more than 250,000 miles of public roads in London. The maps will record the position of each curb, traffic light, landmark and traffic light that will be inserted into the autonomous cars so they can safely navigate the city.

Depending on success in London, taxi company Addison Lee could add autonomous vehicles to its services in New York and other international markets. Gatwick airport taxi service

As for human drivers, Addison Lee guarantees that the current 5,000 London-based drivers will remain employed. For this, the company will create different categories of services, with different prices, for cars with and without drivers.

According to experts the offer of autonomous cars is a way to expand the growing demand for automotive services. Ownership of private cars is declining, but people still have to move around the city and to do so, they use taxi services and one-stop transportation apps like Uber.

Andy Boland, CEO of Addison Lee Group, believes urban transport will change dramatically over the next 10 years, and the company needs to be at the forefront of this revolution.

“Autonomous technology is the key to many of the challenges we face in transportation. By providing ride-sharing services, we can help resolve congestion, free up parking space and improve urban air quality through zero-emission vehicles, ”said Boland.

For some experts, there is no doubt about it: the future of cars is autonomous.

The United Kingdom has been the scene of several initiatives towards autonomous management. Nissan began testing autonomous vehicles on the country's streets in 2018, and Ford began testing with the Jaguar Land Rover in Coventry. British startup FiveAI has announced for 2019 the start of testing of self-driving shared transport service on the outskirts of London.