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Robot cars in endurance test:
Argo AI wants to test its driverless vehicles in the US cities of Miami (Florida), Austin (Texas) and Washington
Photo: Carl Juste/AP
Robotic car maker Argo AI has started testing driverless cars in the US cities of Miami (Florida), Austin (Texas) and Washington.
"Argo AI is the first company to put cars on the road in major cities during rush hour without safety drivers," Argo boss
Bryan Salesky told
the Bloomberg news agency.
There is only one person in the front passenger seat who can stop the vehicle in an emergency.
However, Argo is not the first company to put completely driverless vehicles on the road.
In the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona, Alphabet's spin-off, Waymo, is already operating the world's first autonomous robo-taxi service.
The start-up Cruise, which is supported by Ford, is also working on a corresponding system.
However, the tests could be the most difficult for this technology, according to the Bloomberg report.
Because so far, driverless cars have mainly been on the road at night when there is little going on on the road.
According to Salesky, this is made possible, among other things, by a newly developed lidar sensor that allows vehicles to see up to 400 meters away.
"This sensor is the key to commercializing autonomous driving," believes the Argo boss.
By the end of this year, the entire Argo test fleet should be equipped with these sensors.
The TÜV Süd had previously tested the system and given the go-ahead for testing in US cities.
Argo AI develops autonomous driving systems that completely replace humans.
The company was founded in 2016 with $1 billion in seed funding from Ford.
The German Volkswagen Group has also been supporting the start-up since 2020.
Unlike Waymo, for example, Argo wants to develop the technology for the car manufacturers and not control the technology itself.
mg