An indication of the degree of acceptance in the use of driverless vehicles in Germany is the new legislation presently passed in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, that would allow driverless vehicles to ply public roads across the country from next year, 2022.

This new legal framework backing commercial operations of autonomous vehicles would undoubtedly be attractive to companies involved in autonomous commercial car-hailing and logistics services, fast-growing across the world. The new legislation, when passed, will allow autonomous vehicles to operate without the hitherto mandatory safety driver behind the wheels. Germany had seen some degree of autonomous vehicle testing with a safety driver behind the steering.

The proposed legislation will only become law after it is passed in Germany’s upper house of parliament. The details of the bill show that autonomous vehicles without a safety driver could be allowed to ply public roads after satisfying all the safety requirements for such operation. The bill also includes proposed initial applications for driverless cars on public roads, including passenger transport, logistics, company shuttles, and business and supply trips between medical facilities and retirement homes.

There are specific requirements from companies intending to enter the business to ensure safety and security. Few companies already carrying out autonomous testing in Germany may have gotten a head start when the law is eventually passed.

This year has seen a steep rise in the number of permits for self-driving cars on public roads in different parts of the world. China and the US have seen a substantial deployment of these autonomous vehicles in some cities. AutoX is currently deploying its robotaxis in several countries with a reasonable degree of success.

It is expected that the upper chamber of parliament also passes the regulation for it to become law in Germany.

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• Baidu obtains a permit to start testing paid Robotaxi services in Cangzhou, China

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The US state of California has granted permission to Chinese firm Pony.ai to carry out a pilot run of its driverless vehicles in three cities in the state. Six Pony’s autonomous vehicles will be allowed without a safety driver at the wheels in Fremont, Milpitas, and Irvine, within designated roads in these cities.

The permit was issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles, which is the statutory regulator for issues relating to autonomous vehicle testing on public roads. The new permit is an extension of the earlier permit already granted to Pony.ai since 2017 when it started testing autonomous vehicles with a safety driver behind the wheel in California. The vehicles will operate on roads with speed limits below 45 miles per hour, and testing will commence first in Fremont and Milpitas on weekdays between 10 am and 3 pm, while the city of Irvine will follow suit later.

Some stringent conditions must be met before companies are granted these permits, and any collisions or crashes involving these driverless vehicles must be reported to the regulator within 10 days. In addition, the company will submit an annual report of disengagements to the Department of Motor Vehicles before re-issuance of the permit. There is also the tiny requirement to provide evidence of insurance or a bond of $5 million.

Currently, more than 50 companies have active permits to test autonomous vehicles with a safety driver in different cities in California. Pony.ai joins a growing list of companies that have active permits to test driverless vehicles in California without a safety driver. There are currently eight companies with such permits, including Baidu, AutoX, WeRide, Cruise, Nuro, and Zoox, although only one of these companies (Nuro) has a permit to operate commercial services.

Since 2016 when Pony.ai began operations, it has continued to expand in its scope of operations, attracting investments from important quarters. This has seen the company come out stronger this year as it continues to evolve new partnerships and collaborations with automakers and suppliers. Pony.ai’s agnostic virtual driver system could be applied to vehicles of all sizes and purposes and could provide a revolutionary approach to driverless technology.

RELATED:

• Chinese AV startups Didi and AutoX set to launch robotaxi pilot programs in May
• Baidu rolls out paid driverless taxi service, AutoX completes 100 days of Robotaxi service in China
• AutoX partners Honda to install its Autonomous Driving tech on Honda cars in China

(via)

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