iPad taxi anyone? We’ve just seen the Google robot cars, now German researchers have kicked it up a level with a driverless taxi that can be hailed with your iPad. That’s got to be safer than most minicabs, right? Read on for full details of the autonomous iPad taxi research and some deeper details on the tech inside…
German researchers at AutoNOMOS Labs (part of Berlin’s Free University) have pulled the covers of their autonomous car. Called Made In Germany (MIG), it’s an autonomous VW Passat cab which you can hail using an iPad app. We have a feeling London cabbies are not going to be happy. A robot taxi and it’s German? I blame that Ken Livingstone/Boris (delete where applicable).
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The MIG iPad taxi packs GPS navigation, multiple video cameras, laser scanners, sensor and radars into the Passat’s shell. It uses that combination of sensors to create a 3D map of its surrounding and detect pedestrians and vehicles. To hail MIG, passengers need a Wi-Fi + 3G iPad to transmit its GPS location to the vehicle. The passengers can then track the iPad taxi’s route as they travel.
Take a look at the autonomous iPad taxi video below and let us know: would you be brave enough to take a ride?
