AUSTIN, Texas — Why could some taxis on Texas streets soon not have a driver?
A robotaxi startup, Argo AI, announced this week it is testing autonomous vehicles without human safety drivers as backup in two U.S. cities: Miami and Austin.
But don’t assume you can go out for a night on the town in Austin and call for one of these self-driving cabs.
Right now, they're only available to Argo AI’s own employees.
The employees can use a test app to summon one of the company’s vehicles with no one behind the wheel.
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Argo AI is owned by Ford and Volkswagen, and has been working for over five years on this concept.
Just six months ago the company started offering rides in Miami Beach to the general public through Lyft.
But for now, those cars still have a backup safety driver in case something goes wrong.
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Argo AII is focused on testing its vehicles and system in larger congested cities, everywhere from Washington, DC to Munich, Germany.
They use heavily modified Ford and Volkswagen vehicles, turning existing cars into self-driving vehicles.
Argo AI is one of several companies working on robotaxis, but so far, no one is carrying paying passengers around the clock.
For that, you'll still need a driver behind the wheel.