SINGAPORE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS- 25 AUG. 2016 — The world’s first self-driving taxis began picking up passengers in Singapore starting Thursday.
Select members of the public could hail a free ride through their smartphones in taxis operated by nuTonomy, an autonomous vehicle software start-up. While multiple companies, including Google and Volvo, have been testing self-driving cars on public roads for several years, nuTonomy says it is the first to offer rides to the public. 

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Its launch in Singapore is beating ride-hailing service Uber, which plans to offer rides in autonomous cars in Pittsburgh, by a few weeks.
NuTonomy is starting small — six cars now, growing to a dozen by the end of the year. The ultimate goal, company executives say, is to have a fully self-driving taxi fleet in Singapore by 2018, to help cut the number of cars on Singapore’s congested roads. Eventually, the model could be adopted in cities around the world, nuTonomy hopes. 

For now, the taxis only run in a 2.5-square-mile (6.5 square kilometer) business and residential district called “one-north,” and pick-ups and drop-offs are limited to specified locations. Riders must have an invitation from nuTonomy to use the service. The company says dozens have signed up for the launch, and it plans to expand that list to thousands of people within a few months.