Drive.ai’s autonomous ride-hailing service is now operating in Texas
Vehicles will transport passengers within a geofenced area.
Drive.ai's autonomous ride-hailing service has launched in Frisco, Texas, providing transportation between Hall Park offices and The Star. The company announced in May that the service was on the way, and while a safety driver will be present in the vehicle at launch, Drive.ai plans to transition to a passenger seat chaperone and then passenger-only rides going forward. "Today is the exciting start to our on-demand ride service, which we hope will benefit a community and increase understanding of and confidence in self-driving technology," the company said in a blog post today.
Drive.ai said that it has not only spent the last few months collecting data on its geofenced route in Frisco, but it has also logged over one million simulated miles along the route. "Simulations are a major component of our approach to self-driving, as running comprehensive simulations improves our vehicles' ability to foresee and handle a wider variety of driving scenarios -- those that are common, and those that are less so," said the company.
The company's self-driving vehicles are clearly labeled as such and feature digital signs that communicate what actions they'll take -- like waiting for a pedestrian to cross the street, for instance. Passengers can call a vehicle using Drive.ai's app.
