When you think of ride-hailing systems, we’re pretty sure that Sony doesn’t come to mind, but apparently that’s a perception the company wants to change. In a report from Nikkei (paywall; via Engadget), it seems that Sony could be looking to launch an AI taxi hailing system in Japan while teaming up with a bunch of different taxi companies.
So what is an AI taxi hailing system? Basically instead of taxis being dispatched manually via a main center, this AI hailing system will use algorithms to determine where to send taxis most efficiently. This will take into consideration factors like the traffic, the weather, events, and so on. For example towards the end of a particular event, the system could dispatch taxis to the venue so that there will enough taxis for those who are looking to go home.
It is unclear as to why Sony suddenly wants to get into the taxi/transportation business, but it could be an interesting approach. Plus it has also been suggested that this model could potentially be applied to self-driving taxis in the future, where based on the algorithm they will know where are the “best” places to go based on demand.
At this point Sony has yet to officially confirm anything, and when such a system would launch. Also there is no word on if and when such a system were to launch, would it eventually find its way outside of Japan, so take it with a grain of salt for now.
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