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Pony.ai robotaxi in Beijing. | Credit score: Pony.ai
Pony.ai and Baidu introduced that they’ve been issued a completely driverless autonomous automobile street check allow by the Beijing Clever Related Automobile Coverage Pilot Zone.
With this new allow, Pony.ai will check ten driverless robotaxis within the pilot zone in Yizhuang, Beijing, over an space of 20 sq. kilometers (7.7 sq. miles). The Pony.ai robotaxis will likely be examined in troublesome site visitors conditions in cities. The autonomous autos will likely be examined with out anybody within the automobile; a security officer will monitor the check autos remotely. As with the opposite regulatory approvals in Beijing over the previous 12 months, Pony.ai is certainly one of solely two AV corporations to get approval within the first group.
Along with receiving the driverless allow in Beijing, Pony.ai obtained a allow in April 2022 to start testing absolutely driverless autos in Guangzhou, laying the groundwork for future driverless purposes and industrial operations.
Over the previous 12 months, the Beijing Clever Related Automobile Coverage Pilot Zone has introduced various industry-leading autonomous driving insurance policies in succession. In October 2021, the pilot zone opened up autonomous driving unmanned street exams for the primary time and divided “autonomous” testing into three phases:
- No one behind the steering wheel however there’s a security operator within the passenger seat
- No one within the entrance row, however with a security operator within the again row
- “Totally driverless” – this covers the allow for autonomous testing in Beijing
To enter this third stage, AV check autos must have met strict technical and operational necessities similar to check mileage and disengagement fee; Pony.ai’s ten check autos efficiently handed the exams with none questions of safety.
This authorization builds on different latest autonomous driving milestones for Pony.ai in Beijing. In November 2022, Pony.ai bought approval to check with a security operator within the again seat (stage two of the three phases). Pony.ai acquired permission to supply fare-charging robotaxi companies in 2022. It turned the primary and solely AV agency to accumulate a taxi license in China in April 2022.
The SAIC Marvel R mannequin will likely be geared up with the most recent technology of Pony.ai’s autonomous driving expertise. | Credit score: Pony.ai
Pony.ai not too long ago introduced that it’s collaborating with SAIC AI Lab, a division of SAIC Motor (Shanghai Automotive Business Company), China’s largest auto producer to collectively discover and advance driverless expertise. Along with SAIC AI Lab, Pony.ai launched an idea automobile based mostly on the SAIC Marvel R mannequin and can construct out a fleet of autonomous autos geared up with Pony.ai’s L4-level driverless options, over time.
Baidu needs to turn out to be the biggest robotaxi supplier on this planet
Apollo Go Totally Driverless Robotaxi Operating on Wuhan Public Street in Night Hours
Baidu has been providing ride-hailing companies with no human drivers since August 2022 within the cities of Chongqing and Wuhan, the place they will function over tons of of sq. kilometers. Baidu will continue to grow its operational space into 2023 because it plans to create the biggest service space for absolutely driverless robotaxis on this planet. The corporate is planning so as to add 200 autos to its fleet in 2023.
A complete of 10 absolutely driverless check autos will journey throughout a 20 sq. kilometer space in Beijing Yizhuang Financial Growth Zone, protecting a sequence of advanced city street eventualities.
Baidu’s Apollo Go covers greater than 10 Chinese language cities, together with all first-tier cities. Apollo Go performed 474,000 rides in Q3 2022, up 311% 12 months over 12 months and 65% from the earlier quarter. In first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, every Apollo Go robotaxi may give 15 rides a day on common. Apollo Go had given 1.4 million rides by Q3 2022. As Baidu expands robotaxi service, it’s one step nearer to offering autonomous driving companies to extra individuals and consolidating its main place within the worldwide autonomous ride-hailing market.
Earlier this week, Baidu additionally introduced a significant growth of its commercialized absolutely driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, tripling the dimensions of its operation space, rising the variety of robotaxis in service and increasing working time to incorporate key night hours.
“Backed by its strong AI expertise, Baidu Apollo has created a secure, clever and environment friendly autonomous driving expertise system, bringing robotaxi companies from designated zones to open roads at scale,” mentioned Jingkai Chen, Baidu’s autonomous driving expertise knowledgeable on the occasion. The generalization skill of Baidu’s autonomous driving expertise has progressed at a extra superior tempo than anticipated. Now, the lead time to deploy autonomous driving expertise in a brand new metropolis is just 20 days.
