Microsoft's Azure powers self-driving bus in Germany

Unlike Google and Apple, Microsoft does not have its own self-driving platform,  but it does hope that their Azure cloud will be the brains behind much of these efforts.

On the Microsoft Transform blog, Microsoft wrote about the e.Go Mover project – an electrically powered self-driving bus which can seat as many as 10 people sitting plus five standing.

The transporter would make on-demand pickups and drop-offs in urban areas while running on a battery that can last up to 10 hours and span up to 100 miles.

e.GO Digital uses Microsoft Azure to drive safely and smartly in thick traffic.

Casimir Ortlieb, CEO and co-founder of e.GO Digital, hopes to bring the busses to three German cities: Aachen, in western Germany, Munich, and Friedrichshafen, in southern Germany. The company hopes to eventually achieve traffic-free inner cities, equipped only with electrical vehicles that people drive in a shared system that work on demand.

The company is training the algorithms and the artificial intelligence that allows that and ultimately offer a more secure way of travelling.  The modular platform can also be adapted to transport cargo or even deliver food. The company even imagines offering trips for free paid for by location-based advertising on the side of the bus, powered by an Azure back-end.

The busses could hit the market as soon as the beginning of 2019.

Read more about the project at Microsoft here.