SINGAPORE — The world’s first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday. Select members of the public can hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software startup. Its launch in Singapore is beating ride-hailing service Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks. Earlier this year, the company was the first to win approval from Singapore’s government to test self-driving cars in one-north. Auto supplier Delphi Corp., which also is working on autonomous vehicle software, was recently selected to test autonomous vehicles on the island and plans to start next year.

Source: National Post August 26, 2016 17:26 UTC