Autonomous car commercialization to speed up thanks to taxi & bus operation
Park Jung Il | comja77@ | 2017-11-08 11:28:22

Inhabitants are aboard an autonomous minibus running in Bad Bornbach, Germany. Provided by Kotora

Autonomous driving cars are already running on actual roads from around the world. There are many tasks to solve, such as insurance and infrastructure construction, but commercialization for market preemption is accelerating.

According to KOTRA and the industry on November 7, the German Railway Administration began operating a self-propelled minibus for the first time in Germany at Bad Bornbach, a southern Bavarian spa resort on the 25th of last month.

The EZ10 is an EZ10 electric vehicle in France, equipped with sensors, a laser scanner and a GPS (satellite positioning system) for autonomous driving, and automatically stops when there are obstacles or pedestrians on the road. It runs every 6 to 30 minutes from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm daily from the local city hall to the hot springs. The speed is initially 9 km / h and it will increase gradually. Although the German road traffic law and safety issues have made it possible for a safety officer to take control of the vehicle at any time, it is noticeable that the autonomous drive was first used as public transport.

Meanwhile, Germany is also operating a `digital test field` in Bavaria by forming an autonomous round table with government, industry, research and civic groups participating. A KOTRA representative said, "It is important for the government to take the initiative in creating a physical and institutional basis," he said. "We can confirm in the case of Germany that stakeholders can have the best solution through active dialogue."

In the United States, Voyage operates three autonomous taxis in a town in San Jose, California, USA. US automakers Local Motors have unveiled a mini-autonomous bus named "Olli" that houses IBM`s intelligent supercomputer Watson. Besides, Uber is experimenting with an autonomous vehicle by constructing a virtual city `Almono` in Pittsburgh, USA. LG Electronics, Michigan State and Ford and other auto makers are running the self-driving test city `M City`. In addition, many parking reservation applications using Internet (IoT) such as SpotHero are appearing in the United States.

Experts believe that the era of autonomous driving can come earlier than expected. Jeremy Carlson, senior researcher at IHS Markets, said, "Autonomous driving technology can be developed without infrastructure, so commercialization can come earlier than anticipated." Initially, we will start with high density urban areas and highways and it will take a long time to complete the process. "

By Park Jung Il comja77@


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