Drive.ai, the self-driving car startup with roots in Stanford’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, has partnered with Friso, Texas and the Hall Group to deploy the first autonomous ride-hailing platform in the state of Texas.
Initially, the platform will be available to over 10,000 members of Hall Group’s commercial and residential communities. Through the service, people will be able to hail free autonomous rides from fixed pickup locations to fixed dropoff locations.
“Self-driving cars are here, and can improve the way we live right now,” said Drive.ai co-founder and CEO Sameep Tandon said in a press release. “Our technology is safe, smart, and adaptive, and we are ready to work with governments and businesses to solve their transportation needs. Working with the City of Frisco and Frisco TMA, this pilot program will take people to the places they want to go and transform the way they experience transportation.”
Before the July launch, Drive.ai will be collecting data along the routes and working with the city to educate people about self-driving technology. During this trial period, which starts in July and will run for six months, the service will be limited to employees, residents and patrons of Hall properties. Down the road, the goal is to open up the program to all residents of Frisco.
“Today definitely marks a mobility milestone for our entire region,” Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said in a press release. “It also gets us closer to achieving one of our council’s ‘Top Ten’ goals, which is to improve traffic throughout Frisco, one of the fastest growing cities in the country.”
In September, Drive.ai announced a partnership with Lyft to launch an autonomous ride-hailing program in the San Francisco Bay Area. Though, that program has yet to launch.
