California-based Drive.ai announced Monday that it will soon launch a pilot program for self-driving cars in Frisco, Texas, that will allow users to order a ride via its smartphone app.

The program will start in July and run for six months, offering rides to up to 10,000 people within a geofenced area comprising of retail, entertainment and office space. Working with the Frisco Transportation Management Association, the cars will work only on preplanned routes.

“Self-driving cars are here, and can improve the way we live right now,” Sameep Tandon, co-founder and chief executive officer of Drive.ai, said in a press release. “Our technology is safe, smart, and adaptive, and we are ready to work with governments and businesses to solve their transportation needs.”

Prior to the launch, Drive.ai will spend some time studying the routes and also informing people about the technology. Once the trial has started, it will only be available to workers and residents of a 162-acre development known as Hall Park, but the plan is to roll out the service to everyone in Frisco at some point.

In the beginning a safety driver will be in the driving seat, but that person will later shift to the passenger seat where he or she can better explain to the car’s occupants how the car works. In time, the driver will be completely removed, although remote operators will be there to assist.

“Today definitely marks a mobility milestone for our entire region,” Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said in a statement. “It also gets us closer to achieving one of our council’s ‘Top Ten’ goals, which is to improve traffic throughout Frisco, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country.”

Only three years old, Drive.ai was founded in Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Lab, which was run at the time by artificial intelligence expert Andrew Ng, also co-founder of Coursera Inc. and the Google Brain project and former Baidu Inc. chief scientist. In a post on Medium, Ng said there is some way to go with the technology, explaining that the AI still can’t read things such as human hand signals.

“Whether a self-driving car is safe depends not only on the behavior of the car itself, but also on the behavior of the people around it,” said Ng. “It is unwise to rely exclusively on AI technology to ensure safety.” This is the reason why so much emphasis will be put on educating people about the technology and its limitations.

People won’t be able to miss the cars because they’ll be bright orange. Each car will also come with exterior panels that will communicate with pedestrians, such as telling them when it’s safe to cross the road. He also said that if the car finds itself in a tricky position, it can ask for human input. The car will learn from this experience.

“There is still much work to be done, but the future of self-driving is clear,” said Ng.

Image: Drive.ai