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100 self-driving taxis may take the streets of Singapore by 2018

Driverless R&D firm nuTonomy has announced a partnership with ride-hailing giant Grab to test out its autonomous taxis.

This announcement comes a month after the Singapore- and US-based driverless company announced the first limited public trial of self-driving taxis in the One-North business district (an area considered to be Singapore’s startup hub).

This new partnership extends the trial period by at least two months.

Grab passengers will only allowed to book self-driving taxis in the One-North district. And each taxi will come with a support engineer, and a driver – who will take over the wheel if passengers wish to extend their journey to nearby neighbourhoods.

nuTonomy aims to have 100 autonomous taxis operating commercially in Singapore by 2018.

According to Grab, it is hoping that driverless taxis will be able to serve passengers in remote areas – where taxi drivers are less willing to go to.

In May this year, nuTonomy received a US$16 million funding in round led by Highland Capital Partners, with participating investors including EDBI, the corporate investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board; Fontinalis Partners; Signal Ventures; and Samsung Ventures.

The post nuTonomy partners with Grab to test self-driving taxis in Singapore appeared first on e27.

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