South Africa’s first self-driving car trials are happening in October
South Africa will see its first public autonomous vehicle trials during transport month in October this year. Speaking to Engineering news, executive director of the Mobility Centre for Africa (MCA), Victor Radebe, confirmed that the MCA had received government permission for the trials and that one of two electric-powered candidates are currently being considered for the test.
The Z10 by EasyMile or the ARMA vehicle by Navya (both headquartered in France) are set to ferry passengers in three high-density locations as part of a trial to determine public perception, viability, and deployment capability in the country.
Radebe said that Durban’s beachfront, Sandton’s Gautrain station, the CSIR’s innovation hub at the University of Pretoria, and the V&A Waterfront have all been earmarked as possible test locations.
Well on the positive side it may spark some realisation in South Africa that electric cars actually exist. On the flip side, this is not really autonomous real-world driving cars – it sounds more like limited passenger ferrying between points. The proposed legislation through (supposedly inherited from the UK) sounds a bit behind… sounds like if a human driver is at fault and has a collision with a self-driving car, it will be the self-driving car's fault!
These self-driving vehicles will likely replace some form of combustion engine vehicles already in use so environmentally anyway it is a good step forward.
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South Africa’s first self-driving car trials are happening in October: report South Africa will see its first self-driving vehicle trials in October this year. |