Skip to main content

Drive.ai self-driving tests with passengers in Frisco, Texas

Drive.ai is using self-driving vans to carry passengers on a near two-mile route in Frisco, Texas. According to a report by CBS News, the company is the first to launch such a test since an Uber vehicle driving in autonomous mode killed a pedestrian in Arizona. These vans will operate over the next six months, with a safety driver on board, and will travel between an office park and a nearby dining area and entertainment complex. Conway Chen, vice president at Drive.ai, says the service has been desi
July 31, 2018 Read time: 2 mins
Drive.ai is using self-driving vans to carry passengers on a near two-mile route in Frisco, Texas. According to a report by %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external CBS News false https://www.cbsnews.com/news/self-driving-passenger-vans-hit-the-road-in-texas-city/ false false%>, the company is the first to launch such a test since an 8336 Uber vehicle driving in autonomous mode killed a pedestrian in %$Linker: 2 Internal <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 4 35413 0 link-external Arizona false /categories/utc/news/uber-ends-self-driving-programme-in-arizona/ false false%>.


These vans will operate over the next six months, with a safety driver on board, and will travel between an office park and a nearby dining area and entertainment complex.

Conway Chen, vice president at Drive.ai, says the service has been designed around the Uber incident.

"It is something that we have absolutely designed around, and we are taking every precaution that we can to make sure that type of incident doesn't happen,” Chen adds.

These vans come with radar on the grill, infrared Lidar sensors and ten cameras on the roof to provide a 360-degree view of the road. The vehicles also feature screens on their sides, front and rear to alert pedestrians and drivers of their movements.

Drive.ai intends to add more destinations over the next six months and phase out the safety driver.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TomTom releases APIs to help EV developers
    September 2, 2019
    TomTom has launched two application programming interfaces (API) to help developers build applications for electric vehicle (EV) drivers. TomTom says the Long Distance EV Routing API comes with an algorithm which calculates the route - including stops to charge - and displays an estimated time of arrival. The EV Charging Stations Availability API provides information on stations according to plug type, the company adds. Anders Truelsen, managing director, TomTom Enterprise, says the company offers dev
  • Eco-Counter highlights Citix-3D at Intertraffic
    March 19, 2018
    French company Eco-Counter is highlighting several new products, including the Citix-3D, Zelt inductive loops, and Eco-Display Compact. The Eco-Counter is a wide-range counter capable of automatically counting and differentiating pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles simultaneously. The company says the technology used is the result of five years of R&D, in partnership with a top European Research Lab (CEA), and 15+ years of industry-leading expertise. It is protected by six international patents.
  • Laser Technology showcases its measurement instruments in the field
    April 23, 2013
    Laser Technology is showcasing its line of laser-based measurement instruments, highlighting real-world profile and event trigger deployments in North Carolina, Texas, Colorado and South America. The measurement systems are being used in red light cameras, license plate recognition and vehicle classification applications.
  • ITS America webinar: Off-the-Shelf Road Incident Management
    June 3, 2015
    The ITS America webinar to be held at 2pm Eastern US time on 11 June 11 will focus on Off-the-Shelf Road Incident Management (RIM), presented by Gewi, which recently implemented the first phase of this system for a European customer. The session will focus on the advantages of a system which can be customized to each organisation’s specific response plan, based on the type of incident. Beyond accidents, the RIM system enables organisations to handle traffic infrastructure events as projects, managed by