Uber beaten by Singapore’s NuTonomy in race to launch first driverless taxi service

Uber beaten by Singapore’s NuTonomy in race to launch first driverless taxi service

As you read this, there are self-driving taxis tootling about the streets of Singapore picking up and dropping off regular folks like you and me.

The service, launched by driverless vehicle software startup NuTonomy, hit the streets of the island city-state on Thursday. It claims to be the first company in the world to offer members of the public rides in driverless cars, beating out competition not only from Uber, which is prepping a similar service for Pittsburgh, but also outfits such as GM and Lyft, which also have the same aim.

Singapore-based riders will be able to request a NuTonomy taxi using their smartphone – for free at the start – though with only six vehicles on the road at launch, you may have to strike it lucky to have a driverless car come pick you up. More cars will be rolled out in the next two years, according to an AP report.

Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/nutonomy-driverless-taxis/#ixzz4RmU5SNyY