A robotaxi, also known as a self-driving taxi or a driverless taxi, is an autonomous car (SAE automation level 4 or 5) operated for a ridesharing company.
Since a significant part of taxi costs is the driver's income, self-driving taxis could be more affordable than human-driven taxis and accelerate the spreading of Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) solutions as opposed to individual car ownership.
The question asks:
When will self-driving taxis be available to Metaculus users?
This question will resolve when all of the following conditions are fulfilled:
- At least 5 Metaculus users with top 100 Metaculus rank report riding a self-driving taxi as a normal client.
- At least one of the reported rides must happen outside the United States.
- There must be no human driver or supervisor present in all the reported rides.
The rides do not need to be provided by the same company. Use of geo-fencing is allowed.
Similar questions:
- When will Tesla self-driving taxis be available to Metaculus users?
- When will Waymo self-driving taxis be available to Metaculus users?
- By self-driving taxi we mean any car without a human driver, safety supervisor, etc. physically inside the car. The car must not operate on a single fixed route or a track like a bus, tram or train and the client must be free to choose destination within a specific area.
- The ride must be at least 3 kilometers long within a city (by the path taken, not the straight-line distance) interacting with normal traffic (not a closed course).
- The company providing the service must not require any special conditions or arrangements like signing NDA, besides standard terms of service.
- The client must pay for the trip.
- The client must be a top 100 Metaculus user at the time that they report the trip. They can report it publicly, or by privately contacting Metaculus staff.
- The reports must be credible, i.e. the taxis must be actually available at the time of report both in and outside USA and the report must be public in the question comments. Trying to pass someone else's ride off as your own is explicitly prohibited. Admins may at their discretion request evidence that the trip was taken.