Driving change: inside the autonomous car revolution
There is no driver and no hands on the steering wheel when the minibus, speeding through the streets of Abu Dhabi at 80 km per hour, suddenly brakes and honks its horn.
“This has turned out to be a very useful way to communicate,” says Noah Zych, Uber’s global head of autonomous mobility, and it seems the only passenger not surprised by the outburst is taking no breaks.
The WeRide minibus, one of 1,200 driverless vehicles to be rolled out by Uber and its partners in the Middle East, reacted to a human driver whose car strayed from its lane.
The accident was prevented, the minibus accelerated again and continued towards a nearby shopping centre.
Sounding the horn, warning passengers to fasten their seat belts, and pulling over when things go wrong are some of the safety measures built into this tech-savvy car.
Self-driving technology has advanced so far; Uber is preparing to send autonomous vehicles to 15 cities around the world, including London and San Francisco.
It plans an Australian launch in 2027.
But automotive experts say driverless vehicles still raise tough questions, such as whether passengers and other drivers will accept them and whether they can be safer than their human counterparts.
Zych says about a dozen WeRide vans operate on the streets of Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island leisure and entertainment district.
Testing of the service has begun with a small number of vehicles and human drivers inside to check progress before a wider launch.
WeRide vans are equipped with cameras, LiDAR and RADAR sensors to detect pedestrians, other vehicles, signs and road markings, and are fitted with a hard plastic shell over the dashboard, it says.
“The regulator here has actually stated that they want the steering wheel to be covered so that there is complete deterrence and the passenger is not interested in seeing if they can infect the vehicle,” he says.
To avoid an unwanted surprise, passengers must choose to be picked up by a driverless car in the Uber app; The rear touchscreen allows passengers to change the temperature, music or control their route.
The display, which uses Uber software, also allows drivers to contact a human for support if something goes wrong, but the vehicle is programmed to pull over in the event of an accident or breakdown, Zych told AAP.
“Overall, we find that people are very excited and very happy about their experience,” he says.
“Most of them are a little nervous at first, but then you go on that one ride and you think, ‘oh, that was pretty comfortable, pretty confident,’ and we see repeat ridership is pretty high.”
The tech giant offers self-driving car rides in Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta in the US, and plans to expand to Dallas, San Francisco and Los Angeles this year.
The company’s other target cities include London and Zurich, as well as other parts of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Australia is also high on Uber’s autonomous vehicle wish list, but the company will have to wait for local regulations, chief product officer Sachin Kansal said.
“This is a critical market for us, as evidenced by the prevalence of our products in Australia,” he says.
“We will work with regulators to make sure we can bring this technology.”
While driverless cars are being tested on Australian roads, regulations have prevented wider use.
This is expected to change when federal, state and transport ministers agree to allow conditional operations in 2027, following the development of the Commonwealth Automated Vehicle Safety Act and changes to the Australian Road Rules.
Mr Kansal says ensuring the safety of passengers and other road users will be the most important factor for both operators and regulators.
“This technology has taken a long time to mature because as an industry and ecosystem we need to prioritize security,” he says.
“If a human has a certain safety record, we want autonomous vehicles to have a much higher safety record than that.”
Waymo, the autonomous car company owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has also held talks with Transport NSW to test vehicles on Australian roads.
But although driverless cars are being used in parts of the US, China and Saudi Arabia, Swinburne University’s future urban mobility professor Hussein Dia says that doesn’t mean the technology is foolproof.
Several cars in Waymo’s San Francisco fleet stalled during a December power outage, causing widespread traffic disruptions, and an American passenger was stranded when one of the vehicles failed to find a park outside the airport and continued circling.
“We call these extreme cases; they are rare events but can have huge consequences,” says Prof Dia.
“The technology is not 100 percent ready.”
Other questions include who is responsible for an accident, what sensors are required for their use, and whether the public will accept them.
“I’m the first person to say that I want to see driverless cars tomorrow because they will provide mobility to people who can’t drive,” he says.
“I hope they are as safe as humans, but we’re not there yet.”
The reporter went to Dubai as a guest of Uber.
