Self-driving startup, Argo AI, is taking it to the streets without a driver in Austin and Miami. Argo AI is backed by Ford and Volkswagen. Argo AI employees will be switching seats from behind the wheel to a passenger in order to further test their robotaxi service before deployment. This makes Argo the latest company testing driverless in the US following, Waymo, Motional, and Cruise.
“Argo is first to go driverless in two major American cities, safely operating amongst heavy traffic, pedestrians and bicyclists in the busiest of neighborhoods,” said Bryan Salesky, founder and CEO of Argo AI. “From day one, we set out to tackle the hardest miles to drive—in multiple cities—because that’s where the density of customer demand is, and where our autonomy platform is developing the intelligence required to scale it into a sustainable business.”
Driverless taxis being a couple of years away from being a common sight in every city is a real possibility. However, specific federal regulations in the US are just one of the factors constraining the commercial roll-out of Level 4 robotaxis. The companies testing their respective driverless vehicles all had to obtain permits from individual states and cities, and are allowed to operate the vehicles under a long list of requirements.
The Vexnova Take
In typical fashion, technology is advancing faster than government policies. More tech savvy cities are helping pave the way, but for all-out adoption, the federal government needs to step it up and help provide the necessary guidance and regulations for further deployment across the country.
Currently, the federal government is placing the onus on the states to establish their own regulations. However, we see this as a major issue as autonomous vehicles look to expand beyond individual cities. This is especially concerning in major metros that border more than one state.
We hope to see more contributions from The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). The last official stance on this topic from the USDOT was December of 2019. Three years outdated and many advancements later we still don’t have a unified approach to autonomous vehicle regulations.
