podcastsinenglish Level B.79 Riding in a driverless taxi
Apr 25, 2019
What would it be like to ride in a driverless taxi? A fascinating journey through Las Vegas showcases a retrofitted Prius equipped with cutting-edge sensors. With safety engineers on board, it maneuvers through real traffic smoothly, operated in a predetermined loop. Spectators react with curiosity, and even the local police find the spectacle amusing. The discussion dives into the intricacies of real-time data visualization and sparks optimism about the future of self-driving technology.
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Tried A Real Driverless Ride
- Marques Brownlee accepted an invitation from Yandex to ride their autonomous car at CES in Las Vegas.
- He was curious because Yandex claimed the car was fully driverless and operating on real streets with regular traffic.
Retrofitted Prius With Safety Engineer
- The demo car was a retrofitted Toyota Prius equipped with radar, lidar, and cameras on the roof.
- A safety engineer sat in the passenger seat with a kill switch while the car navigated without a driver.
Predetermined Map, Real-Time Decisions
- The service used a pre-mapped small area and predetermined routes so the car knew destinations in advance.
- The sensors still made real-time decisions about traffic, pedestrians, lights, and speed within that mapped area.