First Taxi Robot Unveiled To The Public (Video)

French start-up Navya unveiled, the 'Autonomy Cab', the first driverless taxi to hit the global market, its CEO Christophe Sapet said. "It's not something that will exist in the future, it's something that exists before your very eyes," he told Reuters.

watch the video below



Navya's newest innovation was designed to be autonomous: there is no cockpit, steering wheel nor pedals. It is an electric car, able to carry one to six passengers and can reach speeds between 50 to 70 km an hour (31 to 43 miles an hour). It is equipped with more than 20 sensors, cameras or radars to maximise the accuracy of its movements.

The small French company is competing with large tech companies, big automakers and other well-funded startups in a race to develop fully autonomous cars.

Alphabet Inc's Waymo - formerly the Google self-driving car project - announced on Tuesday it plans to roll out its own driverless ride-haling service to the public at a later date. "We are the first to commercialise this vehicle, to put it into operation, to do demos, to show it to the public," Sapet said.

But while the vehicle can already be ordered, it is still waiting to undergo tests with partners during spring 2018. Its first demonstrations to the public are planned during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January 2018, with the first shipments expected in July 2018.