Driverless transport is coming sooner than we think.
Recently, articles about driverless transport being tried and tested in countries across the world continually appear.
Earlier this year Dominos’ unveiled its robot delivery boy, which will use footpaths to deliver pizza and accept payments from customers, with development in Brisbane expected to begin later this year; Uber launched a driverless car service in Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania; Amazon announced it is preparing a fleet of delivery drones; and Google received the patent for an autonomous delivery platform for delivery trucks.
In the last few weeks, articles have surfaced about Japan’s self-driving chairs for restaurant patrons so they don’t need to stand in line, a technology that will be tested in various restaurants this year; Paris’ first test of a driverless minibus that will present an opportunity for new services in less densely populated areas, a technology that has previously been tested on closed circuits in Japan, Singapore, California, and Helsinki; and Amsterdam announcing driverless boats with the purpose of moving people and goods, providing “pop-up” bridges, and cleaning up dumped bicycles.
Finally, here in Perth the RAC stated the country’s first driverless bus, known as the Intellibus, is expected to resume its three-month trial along the South Perth riverfront this week.
The list goes on and on. The international push for autonomous vehicles is evident in the sheer number of trials occurring worldwide, with Perth part of the process. It’s exciting to see our city as a huge contributor to up and coming technology, and the implications this has on developing Perth into an innovation hub.
Get ready, our city will change sooner than we think!