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Autonomous car pilot program ends in Frisco, but rolls on in another North Texas suburb – Dallas News


Drive.ai has been called for comment. The company, which has raised $77 million in funding, is based in Mountain View, Calif., about 40 minutes south of San Francisco. The company covered the cost of the pilot. It would not disclose the price of the vans or the anticipated cost of the pilot.

Drive.ai CEO Bijit Halder said the company decided to focus on Arlington as the place to prove its technology and take steps toward becoming a profitable company, according to a story by Automotive News. He said the four vans in Frisco will join the Arlington fleet. The 7-van fleet will operate on expanded routes that connect Dallas Cowboys’ stadium, an office complex, the city’s convention center, Texas Rangers ballpark and the University of Texas at Arlington, he said.

“We’ve decided to go big on Arlington,” he told Automotive News. “What we have been planning for a long time is to find the right venue to expand our technology and grow our business, and ultimately solve the broader transportation problems that we feel will benefit from our autonomous-vehicle services.”

Arlington is covering the cost of the pilot, but Halder said Drive.ai eventually plans to make money by charging users for direct fares or other features in the vehicles.

When the pilot launched in Frisco last summer, Drive.ai officials said they picked Texas — rather than California or other states — because of its favorable laws and the enthusiasm of cities like Frisco. Texas passed a law in 2017 that allowed self-driving cars on the state’s roads and driveways, so long as they followed traffic laws and had video recording devices and insurance.

Conway Chen, vice president of business strategy at Drive.ai, said at the time that the company hoped the pilot would help the public feel safe and comfortable when using the new mode of travel. To help put riders at ease, a safety operator sat in the driver’s seat of the van  — even though the van drove itself.





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