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Driverless taxi firm eyes operations in 10 cities by 2020
By Martin ABBUGAO
Singapore (AFP) Aug 29, 2016


China auto giant SAIC's net profit up 6% in first half
Shanghai (AFP) Aug 29, 2016 - China's biggest carmaker Shanghai Auto Industry Corporation (SAIC) has reported a rise in net profit of more than six percent in the first half on stronger sales.

The firm made 15.06 billion yuan ($2.25 billion) in the first six months of the year, SAIC said in a statement last week to the Shanghai stock exchange, where it is listed.

The figure was 6.31 percent higher than the 14.17 billion yuan in the same period last year.

SAIC sold a total of three million cars in January-June, up 4.9 percent year-on-year, according to the statement, maintaining its position as the country's biggest auto manufacturer by sales.

The company said a "stable growth trend" in the domestic auto market supported its earnings.

But investors were unimpressed. SAIC shares were down 1.60 percent in early afternoon trading on Monday in Shanghai.

Car sales in China, the world's biggest auto market, increased in 2015 at their slowest rate in three years, rising less than five percent annually to 24.6 million units as the world's second-largest economy lost momentum.

But they jumped 8.14 percent year-on-year in the first six months to 12.83 million, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

China's economy expanded 6.7 percent in the second quarter of this year, the same as the previous three months but down from 6.9 percent for all of 2015.

A US software firm which chose Singapore for the world's first public trial of driverless taxis hopes to be operating in 10 Asian and US cities by 2020, an executive said Monday.

Doug Parker, nuTonomy's chief operating officer, said the firm is eyeing tests by early next year in three other Asian countries which he declined to name.

He said an announcement of the test venues would be made within the next month or so.

The company last week kicked off the world's first driverless taxi service in a limited trial for invited people in a Singapore research campus.

Parker, 41, said nuTonomy was also considering trials in the Middle East, the United States and Britain.

More than a dozen people in Singapore have already experienced a ride in the "robo-taxi" within the confines of one-north, an enclave of technology and science research institutes outside the central business district.

- 'Pretty excited' -

"I think people are pretty excited that the car is driving itself. I would say they start apprehensive and scared but by the second block they start to enjoy it," Parker said.

The current test car -- a modified Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric vehicle -- plies a 2.5 square mile (4.0 square km) area with set pick-up and drop off points. Trips must be booked through the company's smartphone app and are currently by invitation only.

Five other test cars -- Renault Zoes -- will be added to the fleet next month.

Data from the experiment will feed into the rollout of driverless taxis across Singapore in 2018, said Parker, adding that by 2020 "we would like to be in 10 cities in Asia, the United States and maybe Europe".

He also said a number of real-estate developers from Asia and the United States have contacted the company "about how they can use autonomous cars in their eco-friendly communities".

Parker said the vehicle, equipped with sophisticated laser, radar and cameras, has so far experienced navigating among buses, slowing down at pedestrian lanes and adjusting to unplanned street scenes.

"One day we pulled out of here and literally five buses of schoolchildren pulled up on this very narrow street. And the buses were trading positions," he said

"We've seen forklifts, we've seen people with wheelbarrows just right here on this one street."

Parker said nuTonomy chose Singapore for the public tests rather than Silicon Valley because of the presence of a "loyal technical talent" -- including people with doctorates in robotics -- whom it does not have to share with other companies like Ford and Apple.

The company also has the full support of the Singapore government and the city-state's flat terrain, well-marked roads and disciplined drivers make it well suited for driverless cars, Parker said.


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Previous Report
CAR TECH
Singapore trials driverless taxis in world first
Singapore (AFP) Aug 25, 2016
The world's first driverless taxis went into operation on Thursday in Singapore in a limited public trial, beating giants like Uber in the race to roll out the revolutionary technology. The "robo-taxi service" is being tested at a small research campus well away from the thrum of the Asian business hub. Data from the experiment will feed into the roll-out of driverless taxis across the c ... read more


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