The staff of Toyota in Irvine Ca’s dealership, Toyota of Orange, have just informed us that the Japanese car manufacturer is still on track to fulfill its promise of delivering its first autonomous taxis by end of the year.
Aurora is the autonomous vehicle startup that is partnering with the world’s largest car marker Toyota to deploy a full-scale autonomous taxi service. Also, both companies will be working with Denso, which is one of the largest auto part suppliers in the world. The Irvine car dealerships tell us that these three companies are essentially coming together to develop a brand new fleet of robotaxis. It was only two months ago that Aurora made the announcement that they had acquired Uber’s self-driving car unit.
What Are Aurora’s Plans?
Buyers of Toyota in Irvine Ca have heard through the grapevine that the company plans to have its first rollout of robotaxis to get on the roads by the end of 2021. All of the companies involved in this project are going to produce and test driverless vehicles very shortly. Every autonomous vehicle will have Aurora’s self-driving software. Also, Toyota’s Sienna minivan software and hardware are going to be integrated into the systems before the deployment of the robotaxi services.
The company announced, “By the end of 2021, we expect to have designed, built, and begun testing an initial fleet of these Siennas near our areas of development. It brings our companies together to lay the groundwork for the mass-production, launch, and support of these vehicles with Toyota on ride-hailing networks, including Uber’s, over the next few years.”
Toyota finds this announcement especially important since it has been trying to get into autonomous vehicle technologies. At first, Toyota was planning to offer a limited ride-hailing pilot program in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics. Nevertheless, just like the Games themselves, it had to be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The car manufacturer has just reported a $400 million USD investment in Pony.ai, which is a self-driving startup based in the U.S. and China.
Aurora Owns Uber’s Self-Driving Unit
As Toyota Irvine Ca dealer points out, Aurora is not as well-known as Uber, so many of us are wondering about this yet untapped company. Essentially, Aurora is a Palo Alto, California startup that was co-founded by Chris Urmson, who previously led the Google self-driving car team. It obtained Uber’s self-driving unit, Uber’s self-driving unit, the Advanced Technologies Group in early 2021. Uber invested $400 million in Aurora as part of that transaction.
Based on information from Aurora, the Toyota deal will provide the foundation for the mass-production, launch, and support of self-driving Siennas on ride-handling networks.
“Toyota has an unparalleled legacy, engineering expertise, leadership, and ability to deliver high-quality, affordable, and reliable vehicles. They’re also the preferred vehicle brand for transporting riders on ride-hailing networks,” Urmson, Aurora’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Aurora mentioned it would delve into mass production of key autonomous driving components with Denso while establishing a business plan with Toyota to launch volume production and find a way to provide services such as financing, insurance, and maintenance.
The next phase is to prepare the infrastructure for the mass-production, launch, and support of these vehicles with Toyota on ride-hailing networks and explore mass-production of key autonomous driving components with Denso and an all0inclusive service solution with Toyota for when these vehicles are deployed at scale.
Blending Toyota’s know-how with vehicle control systems, mass-production, and connected car knowledge with Aurora’s self-driving technology, will let the Japanese carmaker “to commercialize and deliver safe, high-quality, and affordable autonomous ride-sharing vehicles and services,” Keiji Yamamoto, operating officer of Toyota and president of its Connected Company, said in a statement.
No Word Yet On Self-Driving Consumer Cars
As of yet, there are no executives who are bringing up a way of selling self-driving vehicles to consumers. In the past, Urmson has said that commercial uses such as trucking and ride-hailing will be a path through which autonomous vehicle technology becomes commercialized. Furthermore, Aurora has a deal to develop self-driving trucks with Paccar Inc., which is the owner of Peterbilt and Kenworth brands.
“By launching first in trucking, we will enter a massive market most quickly with a revenue-generating product. We also expect developmental overlap to significantly improve the efficiency of our development in both trucks and ride-sharing vehicles, with each application piggybacking on the advances of the other,” an Aurora spokesperson said.
For instance, the ride-sharing vehicles will influence on-highway advances that were pioneered and refined by self-driving trucks. These trucks will piggyback on the off-highway and surface street driving that was first developed for rides.
Aurora has engineered a smart strategy for commercializing self-driving technology, said Mike Ramsey, automotive and smart mobility analyst at Gartner Inc.
“This is pretty much the only real alternative unless you plan to run the mobility service as well, like Waymo,” Ramsey said.
This niche of the automotive industry has four roles which are the vehicle manufacturer, the driver manufacturer, the operator, and the owner.
Ramsey observed that in this case, Toyota makes the van, Aurora builds the technology driver, Uber operates the network, and the owner might be a fleet or some other investor.
Urban Autonomy Is Still A Challenge
Although companies like Toyota are bringing self-driving technology to the forefront, using self-driving vehicles in crammed urban environments that usually thrive with ride-hailing is still a hurdle.
“Everything is realistic under certain constraints. If it’s moving slow and limited in route complexity, then it can work. I’d be surprised if Aurora launched the van in downtown New York,” Ramsey said.
Negotiations such as these won’t completely eliminate individual ownership of self-driving cars. Other competitors are already selling vehicles that offer some automated driving functions as long as the driver is at the wheel and is fully aware of the traffic and potential hazards. That technology will appear in more models and enhance over time.
Nonetheless, “most of us will experience autonomy first in these robot cabs, but eventually, people will own vehicles that can automate parts of the driving experience. It may take some time, but it is certain to happen,” Ramsey said.