Autonomous driving has ceased to be a utopia to become a reality. The 'robotaxis' or smart taxis are already established in the United States and are beginning to debut in Europe with Uber.
In this scenario, Elon Musk and his company, Tesla, already have a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in several US cities that, as seen, operate with remarkable efficiency. In a video posted by the South African-born magnate on his X account, the high improvisation capacity of these vehicles has been demonstrated in situations where they even perform better than a human.
Spain, attentive to the first 'robotaxis'
The United States has had smart cars (although few) for several years. In the case of Waymo, the company owned by Alphabet, its relevance is particularly important because it was the first to launch the service through an application for the general public in San Francisco (California).
This company aims to operate in the future in more than 20 cities, and unlike Tesla or Zoox, which are in testing phases, it projects that it will be able to serve more than one million people per week.
Everything pointed to Europe having its moment, and that day has already arrived. Uber, in collaboration with the company Verne, has launched the first autonomous driving taxi in Zagreb (Croatia) and aims to expand to 30 other cities.
Although the experience of these vehicles in the United States is very positive, the service in Europe will start with a driver seated at the wheel for safety reasons. However, the company Verne hopes to receive "regulatory approvals" as soon as possible for full autonomy.
Initially, the company aims to establish itself in "11 cities in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East," so the arrival of these taxis in Spain could be imminent.