On June 12th, according to a report from BBC, Imperium Drive, a UK-based company that researches autonomous driving technology, recently launched a car rental service called Fetch, which delivers rental vehicles to users through remote driving. The company emphasized that it is the first European company to offer this type of service.
Specifically, users can apply for car rental by entering the handover time and location on the Fetch mobile app. Afterwards, an unmanned autonomous vehicle will automatically travel to the location designated by the customer. Customers can drive the vehicle normally after getting on, and to return the vehicle, simply park it in the parking lot and the system will arrange for the vehicle to be retrieved autonomously.
Image Source: Imperium Drive
However, Koosha Kaveh, CEO of Imperium Drive, stated that this service “is driverless, but not autonomous.” Currently, there is a safety officer behind each vehicle who sits in an office and monitors the vehicles in real-time. If necessary, they will remotely take control of the vehicle.
Imperium Drive has been driving on these city roads for more than 18 months and has traveled more than 1,000 miles without any collisions. The company hopes that after further testing in the next 18 months, they will no longer need safety officers and achieve true fully autonomous driving.
Fetch currently provides electric vehicles, but users are not required to charge them before returning them. As it is still in the trial phase, the service’s coverage is temporarily limited to any location within a four-and-a-half-mile radius of the Milton Keynes city center in the UK.
Fetch service has the support of the Milton Keynes City Council, who believe that this will help reduce the number of cars on the roads.
