When people think about self-driving cars, they naturally think about, well, cars. They imagine a future where they buy a new car that has a "self drive" button that takes them wherever they want to go.
That will happen eventually. But the impact of self-driving technology is likely to be much broader than that. Our roads are full of trucks, taxis, buses, shuttles, delivery vans, and more?all of these vehicles will have self-driving equivalents within a decade or two.
The advent of self-driving technology will transform the design possibilities for all sorts of vehicles, giving rise to new vehicle categories that don't exist now and others that straddle the line between existing categories. It will also change the economics of transportation and delivery services, making on-demand delivery a much faster, cheaper, and more convenient option.
Recently we had the chance to talk to two self-driving vehicle startups that are at the forefront of these trends.
Earlier this month, the startup Drive.ai announced an autonomous shuttle service that will launch in July in the Dallas metropolitan area. The company's vehicles straddle the line between buses and taxis?like a bus, they're designed for shared service in a fixed area, but rather than being on a fixed route and schedule, they can be hailed on demand.
Meanwhile, Nuro is building self-driving cars for moving goods instead of people, and it recently applied for permission to test its fully driverless vehicles in Arizona. Because Nuro's cars don't need room for passengers?or all the safety equipment a human rider needs?Nuro's cars can be much smaller and lighter (and therefore cheaper and safer) than a conventional car.
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