Starting this Monday, the 18 million-strong Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen has allowed the operation of robotic taxis without a driver at the wheel, although the worker insuring the automatics will still have to be in the car. At the same time, Chinese legislators have decided on the areas of responsibility for the consequences arising from accidents involving robotic taxis.
Image Source: Archyde.com, David Kirton
As explains Archyde.com, in the case of the presence of the driver in the cabin, the responsibility for the consequences of the accident still lies with him. If the vehicle was moving in a completely unmanned mode, and there was no person in the cabin capable of driving it, then the responsibility is transferred to the owner of the vehicle. Finally, if it is proved that the cause of the accident was a defect in the hardware or software of the robotic taxi, then the car manufacturer or software developer will be responsible for the consequences, and even the owner of the car will have the right to file a corresponding lawsuit in court, not to mention other victims.
In the United States, for example, tests of unmanned taxis on public roads have been carried out for a very long time, but only this year companies were allowed to carry out commercial transportation of passengers, and taxis without a driver behind the wheel entered strictly defined routes in only a few cities of the country. Full-scale operation of automatic taxis is still largely constrained by the lack of clear legal rules, and the Chinese authorities have taken a big step forward in this regard, albeit in a single city so far.
DeepRoute.ai has already carried out regarding 50,000 drone test rides in Shenzhen last year. Baidu subsidiary Apollo, as well as startups backed by Toyota, Nissan and Alibaba, also operate their robotic taxis here. The specifics of local road traffic places high demands on the safety of movement in automatic mode, since there are a lot of scooters on the road, and the discipline of pedestrians leaves much to be desired. By 2025, the Shenzhen authorities intend to increase the turnover in the field of automated passenger transportation to $30 billion a year. DeepRoute alone will increase its fleet of automatic taxis to 1,000 in the coming years. The company will offer a set of equipment necessary to re-equip an ordinary car into a robotic taxi for $3,000.
According to participants in the Chinese market, working in local conditions both provides advantages and creates additional difficulties. For example, compared to California, China has three times less capital costs, but the revenue from the provision of transportation services is eight times lower. For this reason, Chinese companies are thinking regarding creating budgetary robotic taxis in order to reduce their own costs to a level that provides a sure return on investment in competition with traditional driver-controlled taxis.
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