Thanks for signing up!
Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go.
If you want a driverless car, move to one of these 7 cities
Some cities are already preparing for driverless cars to hit the roads.
Advertisement
The World Economic Forum recently conducted a global survey aimed at gauging how people feel about self-driving vehicles. The report also looked at what cities were doing to get ready for robot cars.
Here's seven cities that are ahead of the curve and getting ready for the decade of self-driving cars, according to the WEF's report.
Singapore made the WEF's list because people can now hail self-driving shuttles as part of the country's multi-year trial.
The first phase began in January and will test the driverless shuttles on service roads with minimal traffic, gradually working up to actual roads with regular traffic, Channel News Asia reported. The trial could last as long as two years.
A startup is also planning to test driverless taxis in Singapore later this year. The country is also one of the testing sites for Citymobil2, a program testing driverless electric shuttles in countries part of the European Union.
The second-largest Swedish city made the list because it's the testing site for Volvo's DriveME program. Starting in 2017, 100 customers will be able to lease an autonomous Volvo XC90 and drive it in autonomous mode on specified Swedish roads as part of the program.
It's all part of Volvo's ambitious self-driving experiment and mission to make cars deathproof by 2020.
Pittsburgh made the list because it's where Uber's self-driving car research center is located.
It's also where Carnegie Mellon is located, which has several robotics professors working on projects related to driverless cars. Uber actually poached more than 40 autonomous vehicle experts from Carnegie Mellon.
Amsterdam made the list because the Dutch are generally pushing for the integration of driverless cars in society. For example, Dutch infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz is pushing for standard rules that will allow driverless cars to legally hit the roads, the Dutch News reported.
The Netherlands is also another testing site of Citymobil2's driverless electric shuttle trial.
The English city caught the WEF's eye because they are trialing autonomous pods. Right now there are only about 20 of such pods, but by 2017 there will also be 100 fully autonomous pods running on pathways alongside pedestrians, The Engineer reported.
London will begin trialing electric, driverless pods as part of its $11 million Project GATEway this year, solidifying its position on the WEF's list.
Toronto hasn't done too much in terms of trialing self-driving cars, but made the list because it is developing a two-year roadmap on how to integrate driverless vehicles.
Advertisement