Would You Use a Driver-less Bus, Plane or Car?

There is a new driver-less bus that is being tested for use on the roads outside Washington DC. Will it be something that just starts popping up all over the US? The owners/creator of this say, not yet, there is some more testing that needs to be done.

What is it? 'It' is called Olli and will hold up to 12 passengers. How does Olli know that you want to get in and get a ride? You will be able to flag Olli down using your phone and then hop on. Olli is the first vehicle to use the cloud based cognitive system that was created by IBM Watson's brand. This technology will allow Olli to 'learn' from the more than 30 sensors that have been embedded in the bus. The information will be used to design schedules and travel paths. Do you think that you will be missing the interaction you get from a bus or taxi driver? You will be able to interact with Olli using conversation (yes you will be able to talk to it) just as you would a taxi or bus driver, to include getting recommendations for site seeing or restaurants.

Think you will try this new type of a vehicle? Testing right now is limited to the area of National Harbor, MD with plans to eventually roll out Ollis to Washington DC, Las Vegas and Miami Dade, Florida.