The rollout of people-carrying AVs will depend on when the AV driver software can meet safety requirements for each use case.
Cruise in San Francisco (Image: Cruise)
By Egil Juliussen, PhD
What’s at stake?
The growth of ride-hailing services has made robotaxis the favorite opportunity for driverless vehicles. By comparison, fixed-route robovans have seen only moderate investments and limited startup activities. AVs for personal use have the most complex usage pattern and need much lower purchase prices. It’s instructive to take a closer look at key players, technology complexity, use cases, standards, regulations, AV hardware and software platforms in order to understand the lay of the land.