These cars are programmed to behave as human beings, i know a machine knows no fear nor does it feel, but it will be a good thing to ride in one of em.
Watch out Uber; Mercedes-Benz is coming up on the inside lane. In comments made at the Frankfurt auto show, Dieter Zetsche – CEO of Mercedes owner Daimler – suggested the company might develop driverless cars.
Mercedes, which is Germany’s oldest car manufacturer, sees a future in a market catering to people who, while not keen on car ownership, are interested in premium and high-end transportation such as limousine travel.
“This is a concrete development goal of ours,” Zetsche said to Reuters. “It would be even more convenient if the car came to you autonomously.”
Zetsche believes that Daimler could combine other companies it already owns to form the best service. Daimler owns car2go, a car pooling service which allows users to rent nearby vehicles via an app, and has recently part-acquired mapping service named HERE. Daimler also owns MyTaxi – a cab app similar to Uber.
“I think you don’t need too much imagination to see that by combining these strengths, attractive business models are possible,” Zetsche said.
“And it would be extremely practical if the car2go appeared without needing to be prompted, once my appointment in the calendar had come to an end.”
Mercedes displayed a futuristic looking prototype autonomous car during trade show CES in January, and a video of a self-driving “Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025” was released in July 2014. Back in 2013, an S-Class vehicle also made an autonomous journey from Mannheim to Pforzheim..
The idea that Mercedes might be moving into app-supported rented luxury vehicles might worry Uber, which operates UberLux and UberExec for customers who prefer to travel in high-end vehicles.
Meanwhile, the driverless car industry continues to expand. Google yesterday appointed Hyundai’s former US CEO, John Krafcik, to head up its efforts to develop autonomous cars, while Toyota and BMW have their own plans for autonomous vehicles.
Source: thegardian
05:03
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