Watch Europe’s first commercial robocar hire service
Europe’s first commercial driverless car service has rolled out in the UK, but with a twist.
Rather than using a fully autonomous driverless car, the robocar hire service run by Imperium Drive in Milton Keynes uses remote operators and a 5G wireless network to drive an electric vehicle to a paying customer who then drives the car as normal. At the end of the hire period, a remote operator drives the car back to base.
To ensure the safety of occupants and other road users, the cars have multiple cameras attached to them, giving the UK-based operator a 360-degree view, and the operating system uses computer image algorithms to detect anything near the car.
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An app for the robocar hire service, called Fetch, is now available to download from App Store and Google Play, with further regional hubs to follow to connect with other urban areas and key transport interchanges, such as airports.
There are currently four cars in the Imperium Drive fleet, operating within a four-mile radius of the Milton Keynes city centre hub.
The launch follows an 18-month trial backed by UK government and industry that the company says will smooth the transition to self-driving vehicles and robots. Evaluations of 5G wireless technology and internet network links have shown sufficiently low latency for the remote operator to be in other countries: Ericsson shows 5G remote driving tech that UK seeks to ban
This also follows the roll out of a commercial autonomous bus service in Scotland with CAVstar technology from Fusion Processing.
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Remote driving technology is already being trialled in other countries, but Fetch is the first commercial robocar hire service in the world says the company, although there are commercial robotaxi services in California, Arizona and several cities in China. The service represents the first step towards fully autonomous vehicles operating on UK roads, with the company aiming to transition to full autonomy for car deliveries in the next five years.
“It’s driverless but not autonomous – yet,” said Koosha Kaveh, the Chief Executive of Imperium Drive.
“There’s still a human involved, but they’re sitting in a control centre piloting the vehicle in the same way you would a drone. When fully autonomous, we think this system has the potential to replace private car ownership in the UK,” he said.
“Why pay all the costs of having a car on your drive when you can just pay for one to arrive when you need it. For short trips, the service offers the same convenience as a ride-hailing or taxi service, but with the ability to cover greater distances at less than half the cost of services like Uber or Bolt.”
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