Drive.ai's self-driving van heads to Texas

Drive.ai announced today that it plans to launch an on-demand self-driving car service on public roads in Frisco, Texas.     

Launching in July, the service will provide autonomous rides around Frisco's "North Platinum Corridor" commercial area.

The vehicle shown in these pictures is a Nissan NV200 that's been outfitted with Drive.ai's autonomous hardware.     

When ceding the right of way to a passenger, a box on the fender lights up with a "waiting for you to cross" message that lets the pedestrian know they can safely cross the street. 

As with other pilot programs, Drive.ai's Frisco experiment will include safety drivers up front.   

If the system determines it needs an operator's judgment, it will pull over and request assistance remotely.   

The end goal is to remove the in-car presence entirely and run with just the remote operator as a backup.    

Drive.ai is one of only a few companies opening up its self-driving vehicles to the public.     

How will it go? We'll see in July!

Keep on scrolling to check out even more pictures of Drive.ai's latest self-driving vehicle.