The automotive industry has been talking about self-driving cars for a few years now. Of course, we cannot claim that we will soon see autonomous cars on the roads. This requires not only the automotive industry, but also smart transport.
However, the news from the automotive industry shows us that such cars are no longer fantasies. The robot car programme is a good example of this. Sherif Marakby, the head of Ford's robot car programme, is already saying that we will see the first self-driving cars from Ford on the streets of Miami and Washington in three years' time.
However, these will primarily be Ford's robot taxis. The car manufacturer will use a specially built vehicle for this self-driving taxi. It will be ready in 2021. How long it will be before we see these robot taxis in Europe is still unclear.
The car manufacturer does not want these taxis to wait for passengers. Instead, it is expected that the robot taxis will spend most of the day transporting passengers and goods. Ford's autonomous taxis should therefore be on the road as much as possible.