Human beings are known for having a ton of valuable traits, and yet the greatest thing you are likely to find in that arsenal is our tendency to grow on a consistent basis. This tendency, in particular, has notably allowed us to hit upon some huge milestones, with technology appearing as a unique member of the stated group. The reason why technology’s credentials are so anomalous is because of its never-seen-before skill-set, which introduced us to a reality that we could have never imagined in our wildest dreams. However, if you look a little bit deeper, it becomes clear that the dynamic in question was also very much inspired by how we applied those skills in a real-world setting. The latter component was, in fact, what gave the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and consequentially, kickstarted a tech revolution. This revolution, as we discovered later on, would go on to scale up the human experience from every conceivable direction, but even after achieving such a monumental feat, technology will somehow continue to produce all the right goods. The same has only grown more apparent on the back of our recent progression, and a new development in the automotive space should do a lot to further that trend.
Halo Car, a Las Vegas-based startup that combines teleoperations and car sharing, has officially announced its decision to remove the human safety operator from behind the wheel later this year. With that decision, the company will be eliminating the only aspect which has so far kept it from commercializing its operations. The new arrangement, however, will still involve humans to a certain degree. As per the plan, Halo Car will assign personnel to remotely control vehicles through public streets and deliver them to its car-sharing service customers. Talk about these remote operators, they’ll guide the vehicle by sitting in a simulator that reportedly features an oversized TV monitor, a steering wheel, pedals, and a gearshift, and watches for pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, trash cans, and various other obstacles the car might encounter. This particular activity will be facilitated using T-Mobile’s Ultra Capacity midband 5G network, as well as extended range low-band 5G networks. In case the 5G network is not available at a given time, the car will automatically come to a halt.
The decision to have no human assistance in the car comes after a successful beta testing phase where Halo Car got two Kia Niro EVs and retrofitted them with six cameras but no radar, lidar, or ultrasonics. The absence of such critical elements was quick to grab everyone’s attention. Surely, the approach, which is different from your usual autonomous vehicle technology, raised some doubts at the beginning, but Halo Car’s relatively recent raise of $5 million displays a major shift in the mindset. The company will now hope to capitalize on the same.