A Waymo Depot in San Francisco, with fast chargers
Many companies, from Waymo to Tesla to Amazon’s Zoox to Baidu’s Apollo want to make a robotaxi, a self-driving Uber-like service. First, they have to build a safe and reliable self-driving service that can go for 30,000 trips without a mistake. Few have done that, but it turns out there’s a lot more than needs to be done to build a service, what might be called the “infrastructure” of a robotaxi service. Here’s we’ll explore what the key components of that infrastructure are, why they are needed, and who has them.
Most of the attention goes on that self-driving system. It’s the big innovation, and for most companies the unsolved problem. The infrastructure details seem less like rocket science, but they’re still a lot of work and require innovation. They’re also one of the bigger challenges in making a service scale. Even if one has a car that can self-drive in most locations, you still can’t operate the robotaxi anywhere until you build infrastructure, region by region. Some of this infrastructure can be managed centrally, at least nationally. Other parts require local facilities and staff.
Maps, Map Updates and Local Data
Teams argue about how much mapping they need, but no robotaxi service will run without maps, even if it’s mostly more basic lane-geometry maps similar to what’s in existing car navigation tools today. Robotaxi maps will tend to be somewhat more detailed, including private parking lots, pick-up/drop-off spots, road signs and meanings, traffic signal geometry and special rules. Some maps have much more detail, including 3-D models of the physical space or LIDAR texture maps of the road surface and lane markings, mostly used for figuring out where the vehicle is, and for figuring out reliably if and how the road has changed from the map.
While navigation maps can be contracted from players like Google, Here and TomTom, all maps need some means to update them due to dynamic changes, including construction. At a bare minimum maps are needed to handle pick-up, destinations and routing.
Testing and Certifying
Vehicles may be ready to drive in a wide variety of locations, but that doesn’t mean companies will deploy them vacant without first testing them and certifying that they are indeed up to snuff on every road they’ll carry passengers on. They may need to certify to regulators, but they certainly want to certify to their own standards before taking liability for a vacant vehicle. This is not a one-time process, and needs to be done to some degree as times change, and as new vehicle software releases come out.
Local Quirks and Rules
Driving in many cities involves unusual quirks found only in that city. These need to go in the system, or in the maps, but they usually don’t change much with time. Some, like the “Pittsburgh left” you will never do, but you have to be ready for. Others are in the law (like right turns on red) and special parking regulations. You can’t operate in a city until you’ve learned and tested all its special quirks.
Connectivity
Only a few robocars want live full-time connectivity, but all want some connection. You need to contract with local connectivity providers (though there are some cellular carriers who cover very large areas.) Teams tend to try to make maps of connectivity of their providers to know where the dead zones are. Cruise famously got stalled at a big concert due to connectivity problems. Better connections are needed for remote assist, and there are some companies that even do remote driving and need the best.
App & Localization
A robotaxi service needs everything Uber built, such as an app, fleet management and planning and … [+]
You need to have an app to help people order a ride, though some players may partner with a company like Uber to provide that—they currently run in 10,000 cities globally. Your app, and your web site, must be localized to local languages and rules, once you go global.
Fleet Management
You need a sophisticated system to manage your fleet, direct them to tasks, and position them in advance in good places to handle upcoming requests. Plus a great deal more—this is a fairly complex system, though it doesn’t vary much from place to place.
Customer Service
While a company might dream of fully automated customer service—and Uber has only limited personal service but it also has human drivers—robotaxi operators will need to put some customer service staff in place, though they may be combined with the remote operations staff. They probably need much more than Uber if you count service to passengers in cars who need a problem resolved quickly.
Depots
While some have proposed a robotaxi system where each robotaxi is owned and maintained by a private owner, short of that, there need to be depots where cars can return to wait, and for a variety of services described below. Even with private owners, those owners won’t be available at all time to do services, so depots will be needed mid-shift. Some depot services might be contracted out to existing automotive service companies and rental companies.
Charging
Everybody’s going electric, and that means charging, which robocars can’t do at traditional charging stations. You either need staffed charging stations or robotic plugs, neither of which are common. A small number of automatic battery swap stations exist; if that’s the plan lots more are needed. If a shift is shorter than the range of the car, it might need to only charge at night, but otherwise high-speed charging is needed. With gasoline it’s easier, as full-serve is usually still around somewhere.
Cleaning
Messes will get made. In an Uber, the driver cleans it up. Cars may go to their depot or to a contracted car wash. Those who hire out a private car can clean it at end of shift but need a cleaning depot for any mid-shift cleanings. (The “take people home from bars” shift at 2am Friday night is notorious for needing cleaning.)
Parking (Standing) Spots
Robocars don’t park, they stand, but there’s a limit to the number of free standing spots. In addition to depots, operators will need to contract with owners of parking, and a way to pay for them, as they can’t feed physical meters. (Fortunately most places have digital meters now and networked parking gates—but deals must be made.)
Remote Ops
A robotaxi service needs remote ops, even private robocars need them if they expect to operate empty (ie. driving to the airport to pick you up.) Remote ops services typically don’t remotely drive the cars (though some do) and instead they just give cars strategic advice in confusing, unknown or urgent situations. No car is yet good enough to be able to figure out every situation. As long as remote ops are needed rarely enough, they add only modest cost to operating a large fleet—but it’s a fairly big deal to set up such a center. Fortunately, one center can cover a very wide territory, you don’t need one in each service area.
Rescue Crew
Sometimes remote ops isn’t enough, and live humans have to be sent to rescue a car from a problem. They can bring a plug-in or wireless steering wheel for vehicles that lack one. They do need some special training and they have to be local. They will typically also work with, or be, the crisis management staff.
Local Regulators
Before deploying to a service area, you need to make friends with the local regulators and follow their procedures. Robotaxi operators in California have needed to get permits from the DMV and Public Utilities commissions, as well as state law. Cities want them to also follow city procedures, and they put a bill in the legislature to require that. Each area will be different, and probably need somebody on the ground as well as in capitols. Vehicles may need local taxi permits and special permits to go to places like airports, involving negotiation and an ongoing with the destination.
Emergency Services
In addition to working with the local regulators, a provider wants to make friends with local emergency services crew, including police and fire. Cruise and Waymo found out the hard way when those emergency crews felt they had not done enough. This can also involve interfacing with data systems of the emergency crews to avoid ever meeting them, and doing all that can be done to make smooth interactions. This again involves crew on the ground in every service area, at least for now.
Public Relations
It’s necessary to manage the relationship with the local community, and some companies will also wish to advertise and market in it.
Crisis Management
Crashes will happen, and a team needs to be on top of it. While staff may be drawn from other staff above, there needs to be a plan and infrastructure in place to handle any crisis. That’s not just crashes, but other emergency situations, vandalism or interference from the public, special events and much more.
Insurance
While most robotaxi operators will self-insure, that just means they take this work in-house, and insurance rules vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. A team is also needed to negotiate and settle any disputes with other parties involved in any significant interaction, not just crashes. You also need some local legal help, and most crashes will want a settlement team.
Business Model
A robotaxi needs to make money, and companies are experimenting today with different business models. It may be the case that the business models also differ between service areas. Customers will be very different in New York, Phoenix, Peoria, London, Mumbai and rural locations. Incomes and prices will vary, the amount of car ownership will vary and the cost of parking and services. Some areas will have competition, some won’t, and that will drive different pricing structures. Somebody needs to figure this out and adjust it in every type of service area.
It’s a complex world
Many have wondered why you can only get a robotaxi in a score of cities (with that number dropping when Cruise pulled back.) It turns out there’s a lot to do to work in different service areas. The cars themselves are reaching a point where it’s reasonably easy to get them driving safely on new territory, but that doesn’t mean you can suddenly declare the world to be your service area. In addition, to enter a new service area means buying a large fleet, and a lot of capital. There is still much to be done.