Self-driving cars could be coming to America in five years — if everyone has their way. The plan is to deploy in-demand fully autonomous driving in several major cities in two years, it has been reported. Pro-futurists have long proposed self-driving cars to help deal with increasing congestion and accommodate more people on the road.
In July, Google spin-off Waymo announced a testing program for self-driving vehicles in Phoenix, Arizona. But now, other companies such as Baidu, Didi Chuxing, Volkswagen, and Renault have released their own plans to use autonomous technology for autonomous public transportation. To date, there are fewer than 300,000 vehicles — mainly Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler minivans — fitted with the various artificial intelligence technology.
In China, companies plan to launch autonomous public transit systems by the end of the decade. According to data recently released by the China Daily, Chinese companies have invested more than $2.8 billion in self-driving development projects in the country since 2018. The country currently spends more than $1 billion on artificial intelligence research each year. While China is investing heavily in robots to upgrade itself as a future superpower, the country has not been slowed down by low-level artificial intelligence projects, such as cracking down on bitcoin-mining, coal production, and violation of environmental rules.
The deployment of mass autonomous vehicles will be the next push to become a global technological superpower, as China aims to make a robot army ready for battle on the battlefield.
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