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Aicha Evans: Your self-driving robotaxi is almost here | TED

We’ve been hearing about self-driving cars for years, but autonomous vehicle entrepreneur Aicha Evans thinks we need to dream more daringly. In this exciting talk, she introduces us to robotaxis: fully autonomous, eco-friendly shuttles that would take you from place to place and take up less space on the streets than personal cars. Learn how…

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We’ve been hearing about self-driving cars for years, but autonomous vehicle entrepreneur Aicha Evans thinks we need to dream more daringly. In this exciting talk, she introduces us to robotaxis: fully autonomous, eco-friendly shuttles that would take you from place to place and take up less space on the streets than personal cars. Learn how this new technology works — and what a future where we hail robotaxis would look like.

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75 Comments

75 Comments

  1. nitemare khawk

    February 1, 2022 at 8:42 pm

    This is going to destroy uber and lyft hahahaha

  2. DoNE021

    February 1, 2022 at 9:01 pm

    I saw recent an accident with a Self-Driving car and the owner was found guilty.
    How is it about Self-driving Taxi’s. If something happens?
    Is the Passenger in the Self-driving Taxi responsible if an accident?

    • A DotNags

      February 1, 2022 at 10:26 pm

      Obviously not

  3. Zachary Sielck

    February 1, 2022 at 9:34 pm

    How do you address wait times at scale? Are you going to require car pooling? Are you going to require people to plan their trips in advance? What about running to the store because you forgot something? I don’t want to waste 30 minutes waiting.

  4. John Smiff

    February 1, 2022 at 9:37 pm

    Can we just have busses that run on time? It’s already worked for decades and theres no good reason we don’t have it in the US

    • Jim J

      February 1, 2022 at 9:57 pm

      No, that is just socialist BS. Buses have never worked. I live in Oslo, Norway with some of the best public transport compared to other countries. In reality it is crap. It never goes when you need it and to where you need it. So most simple trips that would take 15 minutes by car take 50 minutes by public transport. Even my e-bike is much faster.
      Public transport is just a socialists wet dream that never works good in practice.

    • Jim J

      February 1, 2022 at 10:08 pm

      Also public transport is good at spreading diseases. So we should not use money on it.

    • John Smiff

      February 1, 2022 at 11:05 pm

      @Jim J ?? Shared car isn’t gonna have any surfaces for disease transfer?

      Not solving traffic problems BC you’re afraid of higher density travel?

      Sounds kinda cringe man?

    • Eris Socratou

      February 1, 2022 at 11:30 pm

      @Jim J I lived in Italy and even Poland.
      Public transport had problems but the buses were there, whether I was traveling to Uni or to work, miles or just across the small town I used to live in. The wealthiest country on the planet has no excuses.
      There is no reason to let your boss or the boss of your boss take most of your wage and expect nothing in return thanks to a contract you were compelled to take because of the incredibly inflated housing market, inflated drug prices and the lack of higher education.
      You’ve been told by FoxNews that having a working country is _communism,_ and you’re actively pushing against the benefits of the workers because taking back the money that you generated for the big capital owners would be _socialism._

    • Jim J

      February 2, 2022 at 12:10 am

      @Eris Socratou I live in Norway. The heart of so called social democracy. It is pure crap. Only reason I haven’t left is because they will punish me with a fee of more than 1 million euros (exit tax).
      Buses never go where you want them to go. You almost always have to walk a long distance, then wait, then catch a disease, then get off and take another bus or walk for a bit. Slow and inefficient and surprisingly expensive considering it already is paid for by taxes. When I would rather take my bicycle, that says something.
      It is just a giant waste of tax money. Most of the time (outside rush hour) those trains and buses are almost empty.
      They should instead just give normal people a tax break so they can use that money for small self-driving taxis in the near future. Congestion will be much less of an issue when these vehicles will communicate with each other.

  5. J.S[기마이]Varaba

    February 1, 2022 at 9:47 pm

    영상 잘보고 갑니다
    Happy New Year ~

  6. Shaun Rankin

    February 1, 2022 at 9:58 pm

    I won’t hold my breath 🤣

  7. Brokout

    February 1, 2022 at 10:01 pm

    This is just another way for the rich to get richer while continuing to destroy the environment, let’s invest in transportation that actually works and doesn’t require an ungodly amount of unclean energy. Public transportation is cleaner, safer and less wasteful… but it isn’t another product to sell us, so that’ll be a no.

  8. yukuhana

    February 1, 2022 at 10:41 pm

    This is one of the rare occasions where I didn’t hear anything new from a TED talk.

  9. Ruslan Hakimzhanov

    February 1, 2022 at 10:52 pm

    What will happen if during trip computer of car will be powered off, restarted, hacked or fuel will be emptied? 😉

  10. Some Rando

    February 1, 2022 at 10:54 pm

    Well Dave, I don’t think there is any question about it. It can only be attributable to human error. This sort of thing has cropped up before, and it has always been due to human error.

  11. Andr D

    February 1, 2022 at 10:55 pm

    Own a car and get where you want, whenever you want? Absolutely not. Rent the self-driving car service. Don’t own anything.

  12. Sean Lumly

    February 1, 2022 at 11:00 pm

    More public transportation, fewer cars… Actually, no cars would be best..

  13. Ouahiba Boukaabar

    February 1, 2022 at 11:23 pm

    👍👏👏 Aicha!

  14. Lil Ty

    February 1, 2022 at 11:24 pm

    Who is Ted? Why is he never speaking?

  15. Eris Socratou

    February 1, 2022 at 11:34 pm

    A nice way to take away easy work from the hands of the people.
    The immigrants aren’t the work thieves, it’s the corporations and the big capital owners.
    Innovation under capitalism is a threat to the worker, innovation under a more democratic organization of the economy is a blessing.

  16. victor Loza

    February 1, 2022 at 11:54 pm

    Yo solo se que la mayoria de accidentes en promedio lo provocan las mujeres estando sobrias

  17. ken juan

    February 2, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Nothing could be further from the truth…people truly be drinking the Elon Musk koolaid…having a self driving car is NOT the same as having mass self driving cars…mass self driving cars are so far off it’s not even funny…just the amount of legislation/infrastructure (physical, digital and legal) that would need to be in place is still very immense…it will come eventually but there are ugly fights that would need to be resolved first.

  18. chas in lakewood

    February 2, 2022 at 12:04 am

    Really sucked me in here. When she said the percent of accidents caused by humans,
    I nodded. In an otherwise empty room.

  19. Wokstar

    February 2, 2022 at 12:09 am

    Sooner then a lot of people think, autonomous driving mainstream by 2025.

  20. Peter Coup

    February 2, 2022 at 12:10 am

    Yes, it sucks…we want it now!

  21. Captain_Context

    February 2, 2022 at 12:19 am

    If we are no longer supposed to own cars. If we use a RANDOM car to work and then somebody else uses it…… Then that car would have to be cleaned out and prepared for the new customer, or this will never happen. And I dont see that happening.

  22. Captain_Context

    February 2, 2022 at 12:26 am

    This woman is not behind this technology. She is not working with these companies. She had virtually nothing to actually say.

    • Tavi_Chocochip

      February 2, 2022 at 2:47 am

      She’s the CEO of Zoox, the company making those autonomous pods. Yeah, not disclosed in the video or the description…

  23. Senior Zolo

    February 2, 2022 at 12:31 am

    Stop. Tesla has already shown that automatic vehicles are a problem because humans WILL exploit them. But beyond that: people have already hacked into the software of numerous vehicles.

    I’d rather have a fully mechanical (i.e. non-computer-based) vehicle than this. Hackers will always try to screw with things. I’m already concerned about the technology I have at home (PC, phone, etc). I don’t want my tech to be messed with at 50 MPH.

  24. Gavin Sullivan

    February 2, 2022 at 1:19 am

    Very interesting talk thank you – there’s a lot of hype being put around obviously at the moment but it’s obviously doable and coming…

    • Dog Walker

      February 2, 2022 at 6:21 pm

      Still a long way off, have you tried using satnavs how often do they get it very wrong, With all the blown down trees where you have to thread your car through, no way an Autonomous vehicle could do that.

  25. Eli Nope

    February 2, 2022 at 1:22 am

    I don’t intend on using them. It puts a middleman in the middle of my freedom of assembly. If I learned anything at all in the last ten years, it is that middlemen are inherently evil.

  26. sea bird

    February 2, 2022 at 1:30 am

    Even in Ted audience you still have idiots with no mask to catch and spread death ……..

  27. NeonsStyle

    February 2, 2022 at 1:57 am

    It’s already here. What stops it being used is all the non-robo stupid drives that are unpredictable.

    • InfinitiveZ

      February 2, 2022 at 9:59 am

      If that’s the case, I’d like to introduce you to DefCon, and a plethora of teenagers who are all to happy to crash your taxi into pile of leaves to prove a point. 😉😆

  28. Ca Ra A2 Trương Thị

    February 2, 2022 at 2:25 am

    Có ai Vietnam hong ạ

  29. Tavi_Chocochip

    February 2, 2022 at 2:44 am

    Nice Zoox ad… a bit long though…

  30. bendavanza

    February 2, 2022 at 2:47 am

    All for the greater good, but what will become of the pleasure of driving? Not all transportation is just A to B. Driving cars and riding motorcycles is an enjoyable endeavor.

    • Εγώ, ο Δημήτρης

      February 2, 2022 at 7:49 am

      Nobody is stopping you from ridding your vehicles man, lol

  31. TheWarrrenator

    February 2, 2022 at 2:49 am

    “I’m afraid I can’t open the taxi doors, Dave. You didn’t tip me.”

    • InfinitiveZ

      February 2, 2022 at 9:55 am

      You win my laughter for the evening!

  32. Raymond Reddington

    February 2, 2022 at 3:10 am

    TED talk podcast has gone downhill since Guy left. Manoosh is awful.

  33. MultiBorsch

    February 2, 2022 at 3:28 am

    Nice ad

  34. Madhu Tv

    February 2, 2022 at 4:37 am

    Extremely amazing video ever ever watched 😂😂😂😂😂😂 in

  35. Jh5578

    February 2, 2022 at 7:28 am

    Good of the Zoox ceo to say that her companies method of robotaxis will work and Tesla’s computer only vision won’t because… they just can’t.

    • PresidentialWinner

      February 2, 2022 at 10:18 am

      Yeah haha. Like listen, i get it. The industry has invested heavily (intellectually and economically) into LIDAR so they won’t just admit defeat. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. They really should.

    • Dog Walker

      February 2, 2022 at 8:32 pm

      @PresidentialWinner he is a Muskrat, He believes all the Tesla lies,

  36. Christopher Cottell

    February 2, 2022 at 8:05 am

    Finally a Johnny Cab, now drive, just drive!

  37. Iandrasil

    February 2, 2022 at 9:10 am

    Lol it’s not

  38. InfinitiveZ

    February 2, 2022 at 9:30 am

    A lot more honest and transparent than Elon Musk has been this last decade 🤣 Maybe it should be Aicha Evans who takes over Tesla!
    I can’t wait for semi-autonomous vehicles to be the majority of traffic on the road, let alone fully autonomous. But it’s likely to be one of those evolutions that will require dedicated roadways, or for us to give up part of our roads especially for them, as we phase out privately owned transportation.

    • PresidentialWinner

      February 2, 2022 at 10:19 am

      Honest and transparent? How has he not been those things? He has been overly optimistic. There is a difference you know…

    • luke thomas

      February 2, 2022 at 10:42 am

      The problem isn’t privately owned transportation, it is an obsesive amount of privately owned transportation and zoning laws forcing car ownership to be necessary.

    • {-_-}

      February 2, 2022 at 10:55 am

      Yup. Elon often speaks from a position of IGNORANCE of REALITY. I hope he wakes up to the real world. Maybe the money & fame has been a bit too distracting…

  39. luke thomas

    February 2, 2022 at 10:40 am

    How long will it take for all of those companies to realize tesla is going to get there first. Pure vision is the best method and the only one that will work. But to be fair trains will always be better in so many ways.

    • {-_-}

      February 2, 2022 at 10:52 am

      You are mistaken. “Pure vision” is DANGEROUS. There are people & CHILDREN onboard. Even ur phone 📱 has glitches. Redundancy is NECESSARY through lidar, radar, etc.

    • luke thomas

      February 2, 2022 at 11:09 am

      @{-_-} Pure vision is what humans have, there is nothing wrong with 2 cameras on a swivel, the problem with humans is we get distracted way too easily. The problem with Radar, Lidar, etc, is that in certain situations they will disagree on what is happening, and you have to turn them off, and you end up relying on just vision anyways, whereas if you rely on vision alone, it is always reliable and it never has to fall back on a worse technology.

    • luke thomas

      February 2, 2022 at 11:10 am

      @{-_-} Pointing out their are people and children aboard is pointless, that is always the case, and more often than not the people and children who die, are the ones outside the car.

    • {-_-}

      February 2, 2022 at 11:14 am

      @luke thomas I’m not gonna argue with a FANATIC. FSD doesn’t work yet btw. Relying on just 1 system is DANGEROUS. You are clearly someone who has not seen the HORRIFIC consequences of bad inventions or REALITY’s dark side.

    • luke thomas

      February 2, 2022 at 11:27 am

      @{-_-} Yes it doesn’t work yet, but it is the closest system to working that is available, all the other systems that seem to be better only work in specific situations and specific locations. Yes it is horrible to rely on only one system, but we should prepare for the worst situation, in the worst situation, lidar and radar will not work at all, vision will still work. if we rely on radar and lidar, the car won’t be able to drive in bad conditions, if we rely on vision which always works, the car will still drive.

      There is no situation where radar or lidar will work where vision doesn’t.

  40. luke thomas

    February 2, 2022 at 10:50 am

    When will people realize that if we got rid of roads and parking lots and put trains everywhere, you wouldn’t need very many because everything would be significantly closer to you?

    • {-_-}

      February 2, 2022 at 10:56 am

      That’s totally UNREALISTIC haha. Also, stop spamming comments plz. 1 PER YT VIDEO.

  41. {-_-}

    February 2, 2022 at 11:03 am

    5:00
    YES AICHA!
    Redundancy is REQUIRED. Computer glitches are REAL & the robo-🚗 is just a 💻 on wheels. People’s LIVES are more important than some other CEO’s ego.

    • Dog Walker

      February 2, 2022 at 8:34 pm

      Exactly the whole idea is dangerous, and completely unnecessary.

  42. internet

    February 2, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    It’s never going to happen move on.

  43. Adalbert Red

    February 2, 2022 at 3:47 pm

    Computer vision is a wonderful technology, but it is reliant on powerful compute resources, not installable on a taxi (today). Thus, a permanent network connection must exist between the taxi and the compute located in the cloud. The data transfer would be huge, and the entire system is dependent on a reliable network connection. Similar sistems are used for monitoring the body language of the minning trucks’ drivers for signs of fatigue.
    Anyway, I have to appreciate that mrs. Evans didn’t mention the name of a certain fraudster who promised self-driving cars to his customers for many years now, every time being in the “next 6 months”. That kind of people decrease the population’s trust in the real research.

  44. MWMWMWMWMWMWMWWWMWMWM

    February 2, 2022 at 8:36 pm

    Who needs self driving taxies when companies (uber/lyft) can get people to destroy their own vehicles and use their own fuel driving people around and often at a loss after wear and tear! The driver just doesn’t understand it while it’s happening! Instead you’re suggesting it will be cheaper to have insanely expensive cars that have to be meticulously maintained??

    • kaii231

      February 3, 2022 at 2:12 am

      I know Uber drivers been clearing 75k for years. Unless they’re driving Lamborghinis they’re making good profit.

    • MWMWMWMWMWMWMWWWMWMWM

      February 3, 2022 at 5:24 am

      @kaii231 If you’re suggesting they are making 75K after self employment taxes (which is insane), fuel @ 3.50 gallon, insurance and wear and tear on their vehicle then they would need to be grossing around 150k. I think you misunderstood and they are making 75K before self employment taxes, etc. That I would believe. If tell someone how much I make it’s pre-tax as well.

  45. Melissa0774

    February 3, 2022 at 1:57 am

    I don’t really see how we could have 100% self driving cars unless we were to get rid of manually driven cars and all the computers of the self driving cars communicate and are in agreement about what move they’re going to make. Or at the very least have semi self driving cars like the Tesla, able to communicate with the fully self driving ones and actually physically stop you, when driving manually, from doing something to get into an accident with the fully self driving car, in situations where the self driving car had the right of way. Maybe even have an alarm that goes off or a voice warning if you did something wrong. Can you imagine? Maybe they might even report your traffic violations to the police or the insurance company.

  46. abc7

    February 3, 2022 at 4:17 pm

    Her arrogance is beyond real, consider the braking system, momentum of the vehicle, direction and path of the wheels and steering system and how short the code for obstacle detection or “human sized object in front” is.

    These people control people with lies, that is all there is to it.

  47. Peter Yeung

    February 3, 2022 at 9:51 pm

    Good talk but I think there are limitations with Vision only approach in Autonomous especially if we are talking about a full Level 3-5 system without any limitation of geofencing, climate and etc.

  48. John Petan

    February 3, 2022 at 10:48 pm

    I really look forward to the day we can do away with our expensive cars & use robotic taxis. It will be so much cheaper in the long run. It just makes so much sense in cities like mine, that are highly populated. Think about all the parked cars doing nothing, Gone with this new concept.

    My car spends 90% of the time parked, some wks 99%…that’s insane. $41k just sitting there doing nothing, sigh. Not sure why it’s taking so long, because we have the technology & intelligent people to make it happen.

    I hope we see it soon in my city, but i fear it may not happen in my lifetime because they are wasting money on more rail instead, sigh.

    Governments are so stupid & stubborn. They only see tomorrow, they can’t look beyond tomorrow, sigh

  49. Jake

    February 4, 2022 at 2:24 pm

    Great presentation. Unfortunately, she is completely miss guided. Using such a wide variety of sensors will create conflict within the computer system. This will inhibit the computers ability to interpret its surroundings. She is headed down the wrong path. Camera based computer vision is the future. Humans use two visual sensors which is enough for us to interpret all information necessary in our environment. That’s the model that works with almost every other animal. Animals that use sonar do not use vision for example. There must be one dominant sensor.

  50. Kashish Kumar

    February 5, 2022 at 2:34 am

    LIDARs are expensive and limiting. Tesla’s computer vision is the way to go.

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