Yesterday, when I wrote about 10 existing and announced robotaxi services, I skipped a notable one that a reader brought to my attention. The service is provided by Aptiv, which we have covered several times, but not since last September.
Two of our first stories about Aptiv were “Delphi CEO: The Aim Is To Cut Self-Driving Car Costs More Than 90% By 2025” and “Lyft & Aptiv To Showcase Self-Driving Cars At CES 2018 — Rides From Show For Those Who” in 2018. Aptive was in this game pretty early.
But who is Aptiv, some small startup? Delphi Automotive, Aptiv’s previous name, may be a more familiar name to some of you. And, no, Aptiv is no small fish. Aptiv is present in 44 countries and employs “more than 160,000 people across 126 manufacturing facilities and 12 major technical centers worldwide.”
So, what is Aptiv’s progress on self-driving robotaxis? According to an Aptiv press release published in February, “Aptiv has successfully provided 100,000 commercial robotaxi rides in Las Vegas.” (So, due to Covid-19, that number must be up to at least 100,003 since then.)
But do people actually like it? Well, according to Aptiv, “98% of these paying passengers have rated their Aptiv self-driving rides 5-out-of-5 stars, with most stating this first-of-a-kind experience is something they are eager to try again.”
100,000 robotaxi rides that consumers have to actually pay for — and then love — is a fair start, but when will that number get to 1,000,000? How long until Aptive can operate in many more locations, not just limited to certain routes or tightly geofenced areas? I’ll try to chat soon with Aptive about these questions. Stay tuned.
All images courtesy Aptiv.
