Nissan launches self-driving taxi service
Easy Ride concept joins growing autonomous services sector.
Nissan has launched an autonomous robot taxi trial in the automaker’s hometown of Yokohama.
Joining the likes of General Motors, Ford, Waymo and Lyft in the emerging but relatively uncharted autonomous services sector, Nissan partnered with Japanese mobile app platform company DeNA to modify its outgoing Leaf electric car for use as a driverless shuttle.
The country is set to see a flurry of offerings with Uber recently in talks with Toyota and the government to introduce its own version of robot taxis and electronics giant Sony has partnered with Daiwa Motor Transportation.
Based on the new Leaf, the 'Easy Ride' taxis can be hailed using an app co-developed with Nissan’s ride sharing partner that already has experience building autonomous ride services, successfully demoing its Robot Shuttle bus late last year.
The self-driving taxis will be geofenced within a 4.5 kilometre area inside the Minato Mirai district and run on routes between Nissan’s Global Headquarters and the Yokohama World Ports shopping centre, picking up and dropping off passengers anywhere in between.
A human driver will be in the car for safety reasons and all rides will also be closely monitored and analysed by a control room.
Passengers will be encouraged to visit new locations from a list of over 500 points of interest provided on an in-car tablet with multilingual support. Coupons will also be given to use at over 40 retail outlets and restaurants in a boost to add value to Nissan’s autonomous ride offering.
All rides will be surveyed by passengers to rate the overall experience, usage of content such as coupons and gather information on how to price the service.
The trial begins on March 5 and Nissan plans to launch a full service to greater areas from 2020. It is studying the Chinese market with local transportation company Didi Chuxing.