Autonomous vehicles make a new discovery

Amazon Zoox autonomous vehicle
Amazon Zoox autonomous vehicle

You know how to do a Google search, how to order an Uber, and how to use Netflix as a pretext to have sex. Now, can Jeff Bezos convince you to climb a Zoox?

This is the plan. Months, Zoox, the company owned by Amazon introduced an autonomous electric vehicle as part of what is probably an aggressive attempt by the company to turn robotaxis into a phenomenon.

He had this effort an uncertain beginning for Zoox (as well as for Google, General Motors, Uber and various Chinese companies). They have invested billions of dollars over the last decade and suffered all sorts of failures, including managerial problems, technological mistakes and tragic accidents, all in an attempt to get the man out of the driver’s seat.

Zoox, founded in 2014, was once valued at $ 3 billion, at a better time for autonomous vehicles. Amazon paid about $ 1.2 billion to the company a few months ago.

Like many pioneers, Zoox had its challenges, but progress stopped quickly when the pandemic began. CEO Aicha Evans, as well as chief technology officer and founder Jesse Levinson, told me in an interview last week that the company had to temporarily suspend all operations at its unit – it recently had to do so again.

The company also needed capital to survive (either through new investors or through a sale). “We certainly thought we could fall into ruinEvans said, referring to the time when the pandemic began. “But such a crisis can also focus on finding investors who have the long-term mentality that this type of technology needs.”

At that moment, the e-commerce giant arrived. And the $ 1.2 billion paid by Amazon for the ambitious car company now seems like a deal..

Amazon's Zoox unveiled its first autonomous vehicle
Amazon’s Zoox unveiled its first autonomous vehicle

“Ultimately, we want to move people around the city,” said Evans, who has long held a job at the helm of Intel’s strategy. “It’s built for a purpose.”

Zoox is not the only company that goes further. Many hope to create fleets of robotic taxis that will become popular in the next few years, and some of them have made progress in recent months.

The Chinese AutoX driverless service has been launched in Shenzhen. Google’s Waymo did the same in a small Arizona town. The Chinese company Baidu has obtained a license to test cars on public roads in Beijing, which suffers from heavy traffic. The General Motors cruise is on trial in San Francisco. And Aurora, led by a former independent Google executive, bought Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group for $ 4 billion (and the private transport giant is investing $ 400 million in the company).

These advances are most interesting in the context of a pandemic. Public transport, such as buses and the metro, has seen huge declines in use. And Uber’s investments are particularly prominent, as the idea of ​​getting into a car with an Uber driver has become a riskier proposition (Uber also had some protection and employment issues because it faces treatment requirements). drivers as full-time traditional workers).

When masks, open windows and other protective measures are required, The idea of ​​an autonomous private vehicle in which you and your family can travel alone has certainly become more attractive.

The vehicle seats four passengers
The vehicle seats four passengers

I’ve always liked the idea of ​​autonomous vehicles, at least since Chris Urmson, director of Aurora, first showed me the possibilities of robotaxi six years ago, when he was at Google, during a demonstration of the small experimental vehicle. from that company.

It looked like a clown car and was driving around a parking lot at Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. The vehicle moved very slowly and felt like a children’s ride in an amusement park, spinning and spinning in circles. However, Urmson was determined: he was standing directly in front of the moving cart as he approached him to show that he was sure he would.

A few months ago I got into a Zoox car in San Francisco (it was the first time I saw autonomous technology in action in the real world). The name that looks like something from Dr. Seuss’s book is perfect for the car that It looks like a weird box that looks like a Lego on steroids. My tour felt like an attraction at Disneyland, with two seats facing each other in a spacious cabin and doors opening automatically..

We visited the hilly city on a predetermined route that the company had used for testing purposes. People, who are used to seeing all kinds of crazy technological inventions moving on the streets, would point to us and give us approval by raising their thumbs.

It was a huge change from my first outing in a Google car. Zoox offered a smooth tour with a few sudden stops or starts like other standalone tours. In addition, the Zoox vehicle is less intimidating than the cars we see on the road today – it has smooth edges and rounded corners, reminding adults like me of our toy days.

However, I was always nervous about completely autonomous transport (without steering wheel, dashboard, pedals or any way of passenger control). Until now, autonomous vehicles have been mostly adaptive cars, a driver ready to intervene in case of emergency.

However, my fears aside, my biggest problem is that I don’t want to buy a car, so I really want these robotic efforts to work. As regular readers of this column remember, I decided not to own a vehicle nearly two years ago. Since then, I’ve tried all sorts of ways to surround myself with my urban environment, from electric scooters to electric bicycles.

Whether or not the robotaxi trend returns, so to speak, depends on many factors, although overcoming the conceptual stage was a major breakthrough.

One concern, beyond safety, is that autonomous vehicles can affect public transport, making transport more private and on demand.. However, while all autonomous efforts are described as robotic versions of taxis, these companies aim to attract a wide range of long-term users.

Indeed, in the long run. Like many other driverless efforts, the Zoox robotaxis will not be widely available for commercial operations, but will continue to be tested on private roads starting next year at Stanford University’s National Acceleration Laboratory. Achieving widespread public use will take much longer.

That got me thinking: is it part of Amazon’s strategy to accelerate standalone deliveries?

Amazon sees “the magnitude of the opportunity that goes far beyond just saving money for logistics,” Levinson said, noting that Zoox operates independently within its subsidiary and that the focus has been exclusively on a robotaxi.

Autonomous vehicles remain one of the biggest technological challenges today. This innovation requires not only physical but also mental advances. Are we ready for this?

Evans understands skepticism. “I wanted to build something that I thought would be safe to put the two children inside“So I understand.”

© The New York Times 2020

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