Urban autonomous mobility
Introduction
An autonomous vehicle, also known as robotic, or informally as driverless or driven car, is a vehicle capable of imitating human driving and control capabilities. As an autonomous vehicle, it is capable of perceiving the environment around it and navigating accordingly. The driver will be able to choose the destination, but is not required to activate any mechanical operations of the vehicle.
Vehicles perceive the environment using complex techniques such as laser, radar, lidar, global positioning system and computer vision. Advanced control systems interpret the information to identify the appropriate route, as well as obstacles and relevant signage.[1] Autonomous vehicles are generally capable of traveling on previously programmed roads and require a cartographic reproduction of the terrain, so if a route is not collected by the system, it may not be able to advance in a coherent and normal manner.
There are several active programs in the world, but their definitive implementation requires an adjustment of several aspects derived from road safety and insurance matters. These are some of the doubts that concern a form of transportation that is close to becoming a reality in a few years according to companies involved in its development, such as Google, Daimler AG, BMW, Renault, Ford or Volvo, as well as Bosch or Delphi, in the area of components and electronics.[2].
In August 2016, the American company nuTonomy"), a subsidiary of MIT, launched the world's first autonomous taxi in Singapore.[3][4] Uber has also operated with autonomous cars in the cities of Pittsburgh and San Francisco "San Francisco (California)") since the end of 2016.[5] On March 19, 2018, the first fatal hit-and-run by a driverless vehicle occurred. A woman died in Tempe "Tempe." (Arizona)"), Arizona, after being hit by a self-driving vehicle operated by Uber. As a result, Uber announced that it would suspend tests that were being carried out with autonomous vehicles in Tempe, Pittsburgh, Toronto and San Francisco "San Francisco (California)").[6].
All Tesla cars manufactured since October 2016 are built with hardware that enables full self-driving capability at the highest level of safety (SAE Level 5) although the system will operate in "shadow mode" (processing without acting) and sending data to Tesla to improve its capabilities until the software is ready for Level 5 deployment through over-the-air updates.[7][8].
Since October 2020, Waymo has offered the robotaxis service for the general public in the American city of Phoenix,[9] and since August 2021 it has also offered this service in San Francisco[10] and from later dates in Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta.[11] In March 2021, Honda began selling level 3 cars to companies in Japan.[12] In July 2021, the company DeepRoute.ai began offering the service. of robotaxi in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.[13] In December 2021, Mercedes-Benz was authorized to sell level 3 autonomous cars in Germany.[14] In February 2022 Cruise") began offering robotaxis in the city of San Francisco.[15] In August 2025, there were already at least 11 companies that offer the autonomous driving service: Waymo in the aforementioned 5 American cities, Tesla in Austin, and other companies such as Apollo, Autox") or DeepRoute.ai in several Chinese cities, Abu Dhabi or Seoul.[11]