Question of the Day - 21 September 2022

Happy to.

Autonomous-vehicle company Motional uses all-electric Hyundai Ioniq 5s. You'll know one when you see one by the "Motional" printed on the doors with two diagonal purple stripes. They're also nothing if not high-tech looking, with cameras sticking out of the sides and maybe even one on the roof. Safety drivers are still behind the wheel, though without the engineers in the front passenger seats; a fully driverless phase will launch sometime next year. As a passenger, you no longer have to sign up for a waitlist or affix your John Hancock to a non-disclosure agreement, or even pay for the ride. All rides in Motional vehicles are free until the company starts charging in 2023.

As for the features of the cars, you can unlock and lock the doors via the Lyft app on your phone. There's also an in-vehicle touchscreen that accesses the app in the back seat for passenger use; it's described as "intuitive." The car doesn't start moving until the passengers presses a button on the screen indicating readiness to start the trip. Another button contacts Lyft customer support with questions or problems, which might be necessary when no safety driver is present. 

The vehicle is equipped with more than 30 sensors in the form of cameras, radar, and lidar (Light Detection and Ranging, a remote sensing method that uses a pulsed laser to measure distances), and a highly sophisticated onboard computer system with which the vehicle "sees and understand" everything that's going on around it. 

The vehicle is powered by a new-generation 77.4-kilowatthour battery system. One advantage of this is that riders can charge their devices during the trip using one of the vehicle’s 120V charging outlets.

Most of the user-friendly features of the car are the result of "years of testing and rider feedback from over 100,000 rides over the last four years," according to Motional.