Thousands of residents and tourists in Las Vegas are taking Aptiv self-driving cars – accompanied by a safety driver and safety operator – to and from popular spots on the high-traffic strip. In May, the company’s team announced the deployment of 30 self-driving cars, equipped with Aptiv’s autonomous driving platform. These vehicles are offered to the public in Las Vegas via the Lyft app. Now they have crossed a milestone: 5,000 self-driving public rides, powered by the Aptiv autonomous driving platform.
Hitting 5,000 consumer rides is a major milestone, not just for Aptiv and Lyft, but for the entire mobility space, says the companies. This is the one of the first commercial self-driving programs. The company says it has seen exponential growth in passenger rides, with nearly perfect user ratings of 4.96 out of 5 stars.
This partnership, which launched at CES 2018, is an example of the impact that occurs when two leaders in mobility come together to share in their respective expertise, according to the companies. Since the start of offering Aptiv self-driving cars to the public on the Lyft network, feedback has been positive, the company says. Passengers have been describing their rides as an “amazing experience” and have been impressed with how technologically advanced the car is while feeling safe and at ease, and 96 percent of passengers have indicated they intend to ride again, with 20 percent of passengers already taking a second or third self-driving ride.
Aptiv says this is an important step in its path to commercialization for Automated Mobility on Demand (AMoD). Through this deployment, it looks forward to fine-tuning its management, expertise and leadership in autonomous driving and smart vehicle architecture, with plans to expand the commercialization of AMoD beyond Las Vegas.
