Mercedes and Bosch Team Up to Create Self-Driving Taxi System This new alliance seeks to make a dent in the nascent industry.
By Rose Leadem
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Joining a field already filled with the likes of Lyft and Uber, Mercedes wants to help populate streets with its own robo-taxis. Mercedes's parent company Daimler has partnered with automotive supplier Bosch to create its own system of self-driving vehicles, which the companies hope hit the streets by 2020.
Related: Are Self-Driving Cars Finally Ready for Consumers? What BIZ Experiencess Need to Know.
Mercedes and Bosch are going above and beyond: Rather than simply creating a fleet of autonomous cars, the alliance seeks to create a shared network of self-driving robo-taxis that can be hailed through a smartphone app.
The companies' new project plans to include both autonomous vehicles that require a human driver behind the wheel and ones that do not. The system and its fleet will be specifically designed for cities.
Related: Uber Brings Self-Driving Program Back After Car Crashes in Arizona
With Daimler's expertise in auto manufacturing and Bosch's technology and hardware, the companies are in a good position to make a dent in the market. Daimler's Mercedes-Benz has already been working on developing its own self-driving cars. And the German automaker has already gotten a taste of the car-sharing business with its company car2go and its mobility service subsidiary Moovel Group, which owns route planning startup RideScout and taxi booking app Mytaxi.
