Lyft opens driverless car service in Las Vegas

Driverless cars will now be available on and around the Las Vegas Strip. Lyft announced on Tuesday the launch of a service similar to the one the company has provided for the past four years. However, there will be two drivers in the cars — they will take over the controls in case something goes wrong.

Schuyler Cullen said there is currently no autonomous system ready for safe, mass deployment in urban environments. Cullen was previously the head of the autonomous driving study group at Samsung. Schuyler is now the head of a startup to make a new kind of camera for self-driving cars.

In San Francisco, Miami and Austin, Texas, three other companies began providing autonomous driving services this year. According to their statements, there will be no drivers in the cars to take over. But the company's services are only available to a small circle of people such as friends and relatives of the organizations' employees.

To date, only the suburbs of Phoenix are available for a ride in a driverless car. The company Waymo (Google) offers its services there. This location was chosen because of the stable weather, wide roads, and it virtually has no pedestrians.

The unmanned cars that will appear in such cities as San Francisco will work under a number of conditions. First of all, they will only be able to be used in certain areas. Secondly, their speed will be limited to 56-64 kilometers per hour. Thirdly, the cars will not work in bad weather conditions. Finally, the companies will hire technicians who will be able to control the cars remotely in case something goes wrong.

Motional will operate Lyft's driverless cars in Las Vegas. Its executive director, Carl Jagnemma, said that the development of autonomous driving technology will be gradual, due to its extreme complexity. 

He also noted that the hallmark of their service is that anyone can use Lyft cars in Las Vegas. Their cars have been improved compared to the 2018 models. In addition, the two companies have developed an app that allows you to open the doors of the cars.

Lyft and Motional plan to introduce a driverless system next year, of which the updated cars are a part.