Driverless taxis and intelligent police cars – Smart City Expo kicks off

How can the cities we live in make our lives easier? This is one of the questions that the Smart City Expo Congress, which kicked off today in Barcelona, is trying to answer.

And technology plays a key role in urban innovation. For instance, imagine you could book an autonomous taxi, such as a blue one seen today in the fair, designed by French company Navya. Its manufacturers say it is perfect for short rides in the city.

"You can order your cab through an app to drive you wherever you want, inside the city, or to the airport," said Nicolas de Crémiers, from Navya. The system works with sensors and radars to "very accurately" locate the vehicle and then "interact with the environment very smoothly," including other vehicles or traffic lights.    

"We won't do very long journeys. We will focus on where it's important, where we have the biggest challenges: of congestion, pollution and parking problems," De Crémiers said.

The fair also showcased new models of collaborative bikes, drones, as well as systems to identify people, help blind people cross the street, or pay your parking tickets in easier and quicker ways.

And in a new focus on security, this year's edition of the Smart City Expo Congress showed a smart police car that allows officers to identify problems more quickly.

"It is composed of 36 cameras and helps the police officer driving the car," explained Mohamed Almarri, from the Dubai Police. "It automatically takes photos of all the license plates of all the cars around it: so say the car was stolen or has no registration or no insurance. Automatically the driver gets a warning and can stop the car and see what the problem is", he added.

The Smart City Expo World Congress, one of the biggest in the world, this year boasts more than 840 exhibitors, and includes the presence of over 700 cities, including Barcelona, New York, Chicago and London.