Aptiv, Lyft Notch 50,000 Robo-Taxi rides in Las Vegas Driver

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Autonomous cars, whatever the vehicles of Elon Musk ambitious goals for Tesla, are on a slow development path, but technology developers continue to accumulate a real-world experience. Aptiv and Lyft, who launched a low-profile commercial robotic taxi service in Las Vegas last year, said they have reached a goal by offering rides to tens of thousands of paying customers.

The program, which began in May 2018, has logged more than 50,000 individual trips in its fleet of 30 BMW 5 Series modified sedans, the two companies said. The cars, equipped with software, sensors, computers and an improved electrical system provided by Aptiv, can be welcomed by anyone using the Lyft application in Las Vegas, even if each comes with a driver driving safety. (Waymo, Alphabet Inc.'s stand-alone technical unit, operates a much larger fleet of robo-taxis in the suburbs of Phoenixalthough it is only available for about 1,000 pre-registered users.)

"We believe it's the world's largest autonomous vehicle service, open to the public and autonomous," said Karl Iegnama, President of Aptiv Autonomous Mobility. Forbes. "Basically, you call a vehicle like a normal Lyft. If you are lucky, one of our vehicles picks you up and it is likely that this trip will be entirely unmanned. "

The pilot program operates BMWs 20 hours a day in a 20-square-mile section of Las Vegas that includes the overcrowded Strip and 2,000 hotels, casinos, restaurants and other attractions. Pbadengers pay the standard fare per mile applied for clbadic Lyft routes, said Kristen Quinn, senior director of stand-alone operations for ride-hail.

"We believe that it is the largest autonomous vehicle service in the world, open to the public and autonomous"

Neither Iegnama nor Quinn would say whether they would expand the Las Vegas program or launch pilot projects in other cities. Iegnama would not say either when they could exploit the unmanned humane relief program.

The Aptiv program in Las Vegas, with the Waymo One program in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, is one of the few public pilots in the United States designed to perfect technology and help accustom a cautious audience to robotic drivers. Cruise, GM's autonomous technology company, has announced plans to launch its own public program this year, but has not indicated when and where it will happen.

Las Vegas does not have the high urban density of San Francisco, where Cruise, Waymo and the start-up Zoox test driverless vehicles, nor the particularly complex road network of Boston, where Aptiv also has cars on the roads. As a city renowned for its nightlife and extraordinary entertainment, Aptiv vehicles must pay attention to unpredictable pedestrians who may have had too much fun (or alcohol).

"We design our system to take care of the chestnut trees and you want to be alert to people who cross without footbridges or who may be walking down the street," said Iegnama. "It's the kind of thing we're paying attention to in Vegas because sometimes people are not as attentive as they should be."

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Autonomous cars, regardless of Elon Musk's ambitious goals for Tesla, are on a slow development path, but technology developers are continually accumulating concrete experiences. Aptiv and Lyft, which launched a low-profile commercial robotic taxi service in Las Vegas last year, say they have reached a goal right now by offering trips to tens of thousands of paying customers.

The program, which began in May 2018, has logged more than 50,000 individual trips in its fleet of 30 BMW 5 Series modified sedans, the two companies said. The cars, equipped with software, sensors, computers and an improved electrical system provided by Aptiv, can be welcomed by anyone using the Lyft application in Las Vegas, even if each comes with a driver driving safety. (Waymo, the autonomous technical unit of Alphabet Inc., operates a much larger fleet of robo-taxis in the suburbs of Phoenix, although it is only available to approximately 1,000 users already registered.)

"We believe it's the world's largest autonomous vehicle service, open to the public and autonomous," said Karl Iegnama, President of Aptiv Autonomous Mobility. Forbes. "Basically, you call a vehicle like a normal Lyft. If you are lucky, one of our vehicles picks you up and it is likely that this trip will be entirely unmanned. "

The pilot program operates BMWs 20 hours a day in a 20-square-mile section of Las Vegas that includes the overcrowded Strip and 2,000 hotels, casinos, restaurants and other attractions. Pbadengers pay the standard fare per mile applied for clbadic Lyft routes, said Kristen Quinn, senior director of stand-alone operations for ride-hail.

"We believe that it is the largest autonomous vehicle service in the world, open to the public and autonomous"

Neither Iegnama nor Quinn would say whether they would expand the Las Vegas program or launch pilot projects in other cities. Iegnama would not say either when they could exploit the unmanned humane relief program.

The Aptiv program in Las Vegas, with the Waymo One program in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, is one of the few public pilots in the United States designed to perfect technology and help accustom a cautious audience to robotic drivers. Cruise, GM's autonomous technology company, has announced plans to launch its own public program this year, but has not indicated when and where it will happen.

Las Vegas does not have the high urban density of San Francisco, where Cruise, Waymo and the start-up Zoox test driverless vehicles, nor the particularly complex road network of Boston, where Aptiv also has cars on the roads. As a city renowned for its nightlife and extraordinary entertainment, Aptiv vehicles must pay attention to unpredictable pedestrians who may have had too much fun (or alcohol).

"We design our system to take care of the chestnut trees and you want to be alert to people who cross without footbridges or who may be walking down the street," said Iegnama. "It's the kind of thing we're paying attention to in Vegas because sometimes people are not as attentive as they should be."