Uber Now Offering Driverless Rides In Las Vegas
Do you have to tip your driver if there is no driver? We are asking because today, like right now, you can hail an Uber that is fully autonomous – sorta.
Uber partnered up with a company named Motional (chances are you’ve seen their logo entering the Airport Connector) to offer driverless rides. The program started Wednesday and allows you to be the passenger in an all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5. The vehicle is strewn with sensors monitoring its surroundings umpteen times a second.
We say “sorta” because, while the cars are doing the driving, they will feature two humans in the front seat making sure things go smoothly. Hopefully they pay more attention than this driver who was behind the wheel of a different autonomous vehicle earlier this month. The plan is to keep those safety humans there until sometime next year… at which point it’s all you.
A couple months ago Uber entered a 10 year agreement with Motional to offer up the driverless rides. They’ve already been working together, schlepping Uber Eats to customers in LA.
While Las Vegas is the first market to get the opportunity, the plan is to expand the service to other markets.
They aren’t first…
This isn’t the first autonomous car service in town. Lyft has been offering them for years now with a company called Aptiv. Here’s where it gets crazy. Motional is a joint venture between Hyundai and…Aptiv. So essentially the company has the entire autonomous taxi industry cornered.
If you want to book a “robotaxi”, just select “UberX” or “Uber Comfort Electric” rides and, if you’re lucky enough to be chosen, you get to decide if you want to live on the wild side or not.
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