Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Business
    Home / Business / Motoring

    Robotaxis to rev up after successful trials

    By Cheng Yu | China Daily | Updated: 2020-08-04 10:31
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    The first self-driving taxi in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, starts trial operation. [Photo by Liu Liqin/For China Daily]

    New age technologies of autonomous driving companies gaining traction, investment from leading global giants 

    Without anyone behind the wheel, a taxi automatically started and made its way down the road, only to slowly come to a full stop at the first red light. Hu Wanqing, a sales manager from Guangzhou, Guangdong province, was fascinated by the self-driving taxi.

    It was the first time the 32-year-old Hu hailed such a vehicle. Hu said she did feel nervous at first, but her worries were soon dispelled when the taxi gradually braked to allow a pedestrian to cross its path.

    "The car is no different than an ordinary taxi. It just runs smooth and steadily, like a taxi driver with over 20 years' experience," she said.

    Like Hu, many in Guangzhou have begun to be able to hail self-driving taxis, or robotaxis, since late June after the country's autonomous driving start-up WeRide announced that its self-driving taxi service will be available on Alibaba's navigation platform Amap.

    Autonomous driving is revving up its commercialization in China, especially as the COVID-19 outbreak has sped up related applications. Among them, robotaxis have come to the forefront of self-driving commercialization with several tech giants and self-driving companies recently launching unmanned taxi services.

    Leading ride-hailing start-up Didi Chuxing opened its on-demand robotaxi services in Shanghai in June. It followed tech giant Baidu Inc, known for its Apollo self-driving platform, announcing the opening of its self-driving taxi service in Changsha, Hunan province, in April.

    Momenta, a Daimler-backed Chinese autonomous driving start-up, said that some of its vehicles will be driverless by 2022 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, where it received a test license, and its entire robotaxi fleet will operate without backup drivers in 2024.

    "The autonomous driving sector is speeding up commercialization in China. It is expected that large-scale application of such cars will be a reality over the next two or three years, which is earlier than expected," said Zhang Li, chief operating officer of WeRide.

    "The nation's efforts in new infrastructure are also accelerating the commercialization of self-driving vehicles and bringing a unique open market environment for local tech start-ups," Zhang said.

    Currently, the nation's robotaxis are based on Level 4 autonomous driving, where a vehicle can run autonomously without human intervention in most cases. Autonomous driving is divided into six levels from Level 0 to Level 5.

    Level 3 refers to "eyes off" in which the vehicle will handle situations requiring an immediate response, but the driver must still be prepared to intervene within a limited time. Level 5 is the highest standard, which means no human intervention is required at all.

    For the time being, the country's robotaxis are all equipped with a backup driver in the car to ensure safety in case of emergencies. Companies also rely on safety control centers to monitor self-driving vehicles and road conditions in real time and give timely assistance and instructions to vehicles in need.

    "Robotaxis can generate huge economic benefits in terms of profitability of labor cost savings. Replacing drivers with driverless technology will save 60 percent of total costs," said Yang Zeyuan, an analyst from CITIC Securities.

    For most robotaxi services, passengers pay the same fee as for regular taxis. In Guangzhou, for instance, passengers pay a flagfall fee of 12 yuan ($1.7) and another 2.6 yuan every kilometer.

    "The advanced technology requires many inputs, which may lead to difficulties in the short-term profitability of operating robotaxis. But we are bullish on long-term profit prospects," Yang said.

    The commercialization of robotaxis is nearing with the decline in the cost of self-driving car components, Yang said.

    "With people's increasing demand for ride-hailing services, robotaxis will usher in broader development prospects in the country. It is also expected that the global market will reach hundreds of billion dollars in the near future," Yang added.

    1 2 Next   >>|
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    CLOSE
     
    亚洲精品99久久久久中文字幕| 国产99久久九九精品无码| 成人毛片无码一区二区三区| 中文字幕精品亚洲无线码一区应用 | 欧洲精品久久久av无码电影| 亚洲乱码中文字幕手机在线 | 中文字幕无码一区二区免费| 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕豆芽| 亚洲一日韩欧美中文字幕欧美日韩在线精品一区二 | 亚洲无av在线中文字幕| 国产Av激情久久无码天堂| 亚洲国产AV无码专区亚洲AV | 国产精品无码日韩欧| 亚洲人成无码网站在线观看| 日韩人妻无码精品无码中文字幕| 日本公妇在线观看中文版| 久久久久无码专区亚洲av| 色综合久久无码五十路人妻| 中文字幕乱码人妻无码久久| 久久精品中文无码资源站| 精品无码国产一区二区三区AV | 亚洲AV无码片一区二区三区| 精品无码一区二区三区在线| 熟妇人妻无乱码中文字幕真矢织江| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕一区| 久久久久亚洲AV片无码下载蜜桃 | 区三区激情福利综合中文字幕在线一区 | 免费A级毛片无码无遮挡内射 | 特级做A爰片毛片免费看无码 | 亚洲精品无码MV在线观看| 免费无码H肉动漫在线观看麻豆| 亚洲日本中文字幕一区二区三区 | 亚洲av成人无码久久精品| 无码人妻丰满熟妇区免费| 色窝窝无码一区二区三区| 国产精品亚洲аv无码播放| 国产精品午夜福利在线无码| 国产真人无码作爱免费视频| 中文字幕国产精品| 最近免费中文字幕大全免费| 国产精品成人无码久久久久久|