Self-Driving Taxis Within A Year To Be Launched By General Motors And Lyft

Self-driving taxis will hit the public roads within this year. The General Motors and Lyft Inc. will test self-driving taxis with real passengers this year 2016. This includes a pilot program with electric vehicles.

General Motors and Lyft plan to have self-driving taxis on the road within a year https://t.co/xj4s1jD91w pic.twitter.com/cfvwzzYw2L

— Forbes (@Forbes) May 6, 2016

To begin with, the self-driving taxis that will be sent out will still have drivers in the cockpit that can lift the control if necessary; passengers can book a ride on Lyft using a Lyft's app.

According to QZ, Lyft has a prototype smartphone application that would present the passengers to an option of being picked up by an autonomous car. The Lyft's app would permit the passengers to tell when to go and when it can stop and leave.

Lyft said that General Motors continues to make progress on their previously announced plans related to an integrated in-demand autonomous network with Lyft. GM financed $500 million in Lyft and declared its partnership with Lyft to produce an "autonomous on-demand network."

Meanwhile, the Uber Technologies Inc. has already tested self-driving cars on public roads in California. Other companies that are developing autonomous driving technology are Mercedes-Benz, Nissan Motor Co.Ltd and Audi AG. The Tesla Motors Inc. has also autonomous driving features such as self-parking. In Europe, the small electric driverless buses have just been tested, according to Scientific American.

On the other hand, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration ( NHTSA) released a statement earlier this year that the controlled self-driving system is considered the "driver," still there are other legal obstacles remain since the autonomous vehicles deprive other factors that are required by the federal and state vehicle regulations, according to Inhabitat.