CTO Blog: A Path to Commercialization for AMoD

Aptiv announced the deployment of 30 self-driving cars, equipped with Aptiv’s autonomous driving platform in Las Vegas. These cars will be available to the public via Lyft’s ride-hailing app on an opt-in basis and eventually riders will pay for them just like a traditional Lyft ride.  We view these deployments as invaluable opportunities to learn how to best operationalize and commercialize autonomous driving technologies in a safe and effective manner.

We debuted these cars with Lyft during CES this year, and they successfully self-navigated the streets of Las Vegas. The program we are announcing today is an exciting and significant expansion of our partnership, which consists of Aptiv’s AD-equipped cars operating on Lyft’s ride-hailing network.

This is an important next step for Aptiv on our path to commercialization for Automated Mobility on Demand (AMoD) in a thoughtful, prudent and safe manner. Safety remains our number one priority, and we are going to deploy this fleet slowly and safely, gathering data and insights as we go. Each car will have operators who have been extensively trained, both on and off the road.

Our autonomous driving platform includes all three types of sensors - LiDAR, radar and vision -  which create a 360-degree view of safety when combined with our best-in-class AD algorithms, sensor fusion and compute platform.

The massive amounts of data we will gather on how these cars react to countless, unpredictable scenarios – all with operators ready to take over if needed – is invaluable and will help us improve our systems across the board.

Additionally, we have been working closely with Las Vegas officials in developing our plan to deploy AMoD in a dense urban setting. We will be working side-by-side to proactively architect future mobility solutions, which benefit public transportation and urban congestion challenges.  We will then take those learnings and deploy in other cities across the globe.

We will continue to fine-tune our management and expertise in the care and feeding of an entire fleet of autonomous cars. What does it take to optimize a broad ecosystem and the lifecycle of a self-driving car? From the AD technology, to the passengers’ user experience, to fueling, cleaning and maintenance – what does it take to manage this at scale? We are creating, with our partners – like Lyft – a commercially viable ecosystem that is easy to use and enjoyable for consumers.

At Aptiv, our goal is to make a safer, greener, and more connected future a reality—and this gets us one step closer.