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However, implementing autonomous transportation systems is no easy task, from perfecting the technology to sorting out legal matters. Take a look at these 6 early-adapting cities around the world that have embarked on the road to driverless transportation systems.

Singapore

Last year, the city-state became the first in the world to launch an automated taxi service. While many companies such as Uber have been testing driverless taxi systems, no one has launched a working model yet. Singapore’s autonomous taxi service launched by nuTonomy only has six cars, but the company has plans to have a full fleet of driverless taxis on Singapore roads by 2018. For now, the fleet consists of modified Renault Zoe and Mitsubishi i-MiEV electrics that have an emergency driver at the wheel and researchers who ride in the back to gather data. The service is expected to drastically reduce the number of vehicles on Singapore’s congested roads.

Singapore is the first city in the world to have a running autonomous taxi service. (Source: Auto Evolution)

Los Angeles

After much delay, city officials finally made it legal to test driverless vehicles in L.A. this year, and by 2020, the city could have fully autonomous vehicles operating on its roads. So far, 43 companies such as General Motors, Apple and Uber have testing permits in California, which means that a driver must be at the wheel, prepared to take over in case of an emergency. The Department of Motor Vehicles will finalize the rules and regulations surrounding autonomous vehicle testing in 2018. Autonomous transportation is a sector that will continue to generate much investment, and L.A. was already losing business to other cities in the U.S. due to its regulatory restrictions. With the new guidelines in place, the city can expect to be bustling with startup activity and innovative solutions to its transportation challenges.

For now, L.A. law requires drivers at the wheel of every autonomous vehicle. (Source: Los Angeles Times)

Munich

Germany is home to the most advanced automakers in the world, and in August 2017, German lawmakers drew up the guidelines for operating autonomous vehicles. Under the new guidelines, all autonomous vehicle software must be programmed in such a way that human life will be protected at any cost, over animals and property. Germany’s Transportation Ministry is the first in the world to draw up such guidelines for automated driving, and wide-implementation of autonomous transportation is expected to follow, starting with Munich.

Munich Airport now provides autonomous shuttle services between Terminal 2 and a satellite facility. (Source: Bombardier)

Recently, Munich Airport launched an autonomous shuttle service that links Terminal 2 to a new infield satellite facility with an underground train. The trains are called INNOVIA Automated People Mover (APM) 300 and were built by Bombardier. The train tunnel is 382 meters and will have the capacity to move 10,900 passengers every hour in either direction.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas is another early-adapting city with plans to have autonomous transportation up and running throughout the entire city. However, the city’s first attempt at automated transportation ended badly when their automated shuttle bus collided with a semi-truck less than 2 hours after its debut. The cause of the accident was a delivery truck that backed into the bus. The shuttle was equipped with LiDAR sensors to map the roads. It was also fitted with cameras to identify obstacles on its path, and GPS locators for operators to locate the shuttle’s location. Despite the advanced systems, the city learned the hard way it cannot control what others do on the roads.

The truck hit the autonomous bus that didn’t have the ability to reverse. (Source: MBTMag)

China’s Zhuzhou City

Many good things are happening in China in terms of autonomous transportation. Recently in Zhuzhou, an autonomous, caterpillar-like bus was spotted. The Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART), was developed by CCRC, a Beijing-based company that deals with the supply of rail transit equipment. It moves along Zhuzhou roads via sensors and can travel up to 70km per hour on its electric batteries and is expected to cut carbon emissions and ease traffic congestion.

The ART looks like a cross between a bus and a train and glides through the city using sensors. (Source: Curbed)

London

In September, the UK’s first driverless bus was tested in London’s Olympic Park. Interestingly, residents, visitors and tourists were invited to take part in the test runs throughout the month of September, free of charge. Like other autonomous buses, this electric bus navigates the roads via sensors, cameras and GPS maps. So far, the tests have been successful and the city hopes to implement the buses throughout the city in the near future. Take a look at some of the initial reactions.

Going into 2018, companies such as Uber, General Motors and BMW are expected to continue investing in autonomous vehicles and ride-sharing services. As more and more cities fine-tune their regulations and guidelines surrounding such modes of transportation, the world should see driverless transportation options pop up in more places, with fewer errors, providing more sustainable transportation systems.

Cover photo courtesy of Business Insider. 

The History of Glienicke Bridge

The first bridge built across the Havel River was wooden, it was constructed in 1660, but by the early 1800s, a new bridge was needed to accommodate the massive increase in traffic between Berlin and Potsdam.

The architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel designed a brick and wood bascule bridge, which was finished in 1834. In the year 1900, tens of thousands of vehicles crossed the cumbersome movable wooden bridge. The narrow structure was not capable of handling such an increase and it caused heavy traffic.

Something more durable was needed and so in 1904, the Prussian government held a design competition to replace the wooden bridge. The Prussian government looked to steel for a strong, reliable material.

The Johann Caspar Harkort Company of Duisburg submitted the winning design, a modern, iron bridge with the outer appearance of a suspension bridge. The new steel bridge was officially opened in November 1907. This bridge is still standing today and has many stories of division and unification to tell.

Bridge of Unity

In April 1945, during the Second World War, an unexploded shell detonated near the Glienicke Bridge, leaving it badly damaged. After the War, a makeshift wooden bridge was built parallel to the damaged steel structure in order to restore the important road link between Berlin and Potsdam.

The reconstruction of the steel bridge was completed in 1949, after the division of Germany. The East German government called it the Bridge of Unity because it straddled the border between East and West Germany and, right in the middle of the bridge, a white border line was drawn. The thin white line of paint is still visible today.

In May 1952, East German authorities officially closed the bridge to citizens of West Berlin and West Germany. In August 1961, after the construction of the Berlin Wall, the bridge was also closed to East German citizens. From that moment on, only allied personnel were allowed to access the bridge, crossing it became next to impossible.

Around the same time, the bridge lost its name Bridge of Unity and instead became the Glienicke Bridge named after the nearby Palace of the same name.

Bridge of Spies

During the Cold War, Americans and Soviets used the Glienicke Bridge as a meeting spot for the exchange of captured spies. The bridge gained the nickname the Bridge of Spies.

The first exchange took place in February 1962. The Soviet spy, Colonel Rudolf Abel, was exchanged for U.S. spy-plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down in his U2 spy plane while crossing over the USSR in 1960.

A total of 40 prisoners were exchanged between Western and Eastern powers on the Glienicke Bridge. It’s no surprise then that the bridge has frequently appeared as a venue for prisoner exchange. Today, Glienicke Bridge is a popular backdrop for television commercials and movies.

One of the most successful movies to use the Glienicke Bridge as a shooting location was the 2015 film “Bridge of Spies.” The blockbuster directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Hanks features a prisoner exchange on the famous steel bridge as a major plot element. It has been nominated for Best Movie at the 2016 Oscar Academy Awards, due to kick off on Sunday, February 28 in Hollywood, U.S.A. The simple elegance and pleasing symmetry of this historic steel bridge, as shown in “Bridge of Spies,” captures the viewer and brings them back to Cold War Germany. For this reason, many steel lovers are hoping it can win the top prize.

A Steel Structure to Remember

But the most iconic memory of this bridge is its reopening to the public. At 6 p.m. on November 10, 1989, one day after the opening of the Berlin Wall, the Glienicke Bridge was reopened to pedestrians. The border fortifications and barricades were later dismantled following the unification of Germany on October 3, 1990. Since then Glienicke Bridge has reunited loved ones and become a focal point of unification. To this day, the strong steel structure it’s remembered as bridge like no other.

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