Scorch was happily juggling her fireballs when suddenly, Felix yelled her name and distracted her, “Scorch!!! Look at this! This car has no driver, and it is driving by itself. Is it magic?”
“Felix,” shrieked Scorch as she missed a fireball and it shot past Felix’s wings, “It might have almost burned your wings off! Are you alright?!” Felix nodded a yes.
“No, this isn’t magic. It is called a robotaxi. It is a driverless car by a company Cruise from San Francisco, a city in California,” informed Scorch.
“Driverless car? How is that possible?” asked an anxious Felix.
Scorch explained, “The entire car is controlled by Artificial Intelligence (AI) which uses data from cameras, radar, and lidar systems (sensing motions covering 360 degrees). Cruise has developed driverless cars in 2022 and offers services similar to an Uber ride.”
“That is amazing! Tell me more, Scorch,” asked Felix.
Scorch said, “As of now, Cruise runs from 10 pm to 5:30 am. In the future, the company plans to run its robotaxis in the daytime. There is still work to be done as researchers have found some flaws and limitations to the robotaxis.”
“Developing robotaxis must be expensive, right?” questioned Felix.
“Sure, it is,” agreed Scorch, “Over 100 billion dollars are spent in building driverless cars in the past year. Cruise has developed a new vehicle called Origin, which can perform carpooling (sharing a car journey). Six members can sit in Origin and be taken to various places. But the latest reports also show issues with these auto-driven taxis. They can stop moving in the middle of traffic and cause trouble to others. However, the advancements in this technology can surely fix the glitches.
The vice president of Cruise, Megan Prichard, said they can positively expect tens of thousands of such taxis on the road soon.”
“Looks like AI will slowly, but steadily, take over in the future,” remarked Felix. Scorch nodded in approval.