The idea is to make taxis safer, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly. Imperium Drive won the race for that. In just a couple of months, in 2022, Imperium Drive is launching the Fetch; which is the Driverless Taxi service.
A remote driver sits at a remote location with a setup that resembles a video game controller of a car driver with a steering, several screens, and gas & breaks pedals. The drivers get trained within a day to drive the vehicle.
All you need to do is order the taxi as you normally would and when the driverless taxi arrives, you’ll take control of it and drive yourself to your location. This is the safest option for people who need a ride late at night or early in the morning. The car works just as a remotely controlled car but it has eyes and a brain – of the remote driver.
The best about this is you don’t have to park it. Get off at your destination and let the remote driver know that you have arrived at your destination, the remote driver will drive it away. This gives these autonomous vehicles a great chance to dominate the taxi industry.
These vehicles have a speed of 30 miles per hour on the 4G internet and drive at the normal speed of the traffic. Knowing these limits allows them to safely operate at the bandwidth available. Although, the project has yet been delayed for this sole reason.
Imperium drive is about to integrate 5G in their Remote Driver-to-Vehicle which has a 50% better bandwidth than 4G. This will allow Fetch to operate at a higher speed limit and roads like highways and roads with more traffic, allowing services farther and faster.
Where Can You Access the Fetch?
UK – the service will be available only in the UK as this is a UK-based business. You can access it through the app – The Fetch. Their service is said to start at the beginning of mid-2022. Although the business has received £4.5 million in funding from the government and private investors together.
The service works like a normal taxi service – where you order the cab on your phone app and it arrives at your location. The only little difference would be for you to drive (which is obvious by now).
Is It Safe?
The idea is safe, there’s no doubt in that. Let’s talk about the technology, equipment, and risks. The first risk is about the internet since this works with the internet.
What happens if the passengers need to go to an area the internet is not so good and the connection break? The monitors that are used to view the surrounding of the car will also show the bandwidth, internet status, and other statuses of the internet and other components.
If there’s a place where the internet is not as good, the remote driver will have the insights on it and can decide the optimal solution. In a rare case, if the internet is down while driving, the program on the car will safely perform the stopping maneuver and the car will come to a stop at a safe location till the internet is back or help arrives.
The car, as I already told you, has a certain speed limit and will be notified if there’s a problem even with that. The tests have been made and are continuously run to discover any loophole in the service to eliminate.
Another risk you would assume is the technical problem which might cause you to lose control of the car. Rest assured, there is no threat to it. You would never end up in a situation where the driverless taxi is not in your control and neither in the remote driver. The car will either be controlled by the remote driver or you.
What’s the Future of this Driverless Taxi?
The future we saw in the early 2000s for two decades ahead is still two decades early in 2022 as we see it today. Or maybe this might take even longer since the transport and cars you needed for can now be possible with pseudo-teleportation. The web3 will even reduce the need for us to move to a different location, forcing us to put ourselves into the simulation.
Cars, and especially transportation, as we imagined might not be needed with it. Nobody would prefer to buy a 100’s grants of flying car and then power it to go to work each day, over the fact that they can put their $800 Oculus and be in their meeting with just a flick of a switch. It’s a matter of convenience.
Food, Groceries, products, etc. are delivered to your door and that is to change with drone deliveries. Your meetings and your social gatherings are online and will be in web3 aka Metaverse…but that is still a decade away. And for the time being, if there are these taxis available, it will be convenient for now.
Maybe the technology with autonomous vehicles and machines that make it convenient to meet each other in real life is still not invented but the technology that deludes us into believing we’re connected when we just grow distant is already here and evolving.
Author Bio: Here goes Ahsun bashing the internet and ranting about tech (again). Doesn’t he just love criticizing the blind spots in tech, science, and business? Read more from him on Hitechwork.
