No co-pilot, hidden B-pillar, mass production at launch, WeRide's Robotaxi is quite impressive
Latest update time：2024-10-18
Reads：
“
The two Robotaxi launches were less than four days apart, but the GXR seems to have more highlights.
”
Author | Yu Kuai
Editor
| Li Yuchen
“Surprised and disappointed.”
An intelligent driving expert described his feelings about Tesla’s press conference last week to Leifeng.com’s New Intelligent Driving.
On October 11, after many delays, Tesla's much-anticipated driverless taxi CyberCab was finally officially unveiled. The two-seater CyberCab, which has no steering wheel, no pedals, has reignited the market's interest in Robotaxi.
Musk had previously promoted the press conference as "a historic event", but after the excitement, controversy followed.
The press conference was 50 minutes late and ended hastily 20 minutes later. The market, which had been waiting for a long time, was quite disappointed with the press conference. There was no introduction of technical details and no specific progress in commercialization. Tesla's stock price also plummeted after the press conference.
But it is true that Tesla has made the long-dormant Robotaxi market lively again.
Less than a week later, the Chinese market also welcomed a new Robotaxi. On October 15, WeRide quietly released a new generation of mass-produced Robotaxi GXR. Unlike Tesla CyberCab, which will be mass-produced in 2026 or later, this Robotaxi will be mass-produced as soon as it is released.
Although WeRide has handled the matter very low-key, this Robotaxi GXR still has many highlights. Looking back at China, domestic Robotaxi companies have actually been quietly accelerating.
01
Safety first, performance first
Robotaxi is not just a show of software and hardware. If consumers want it to feel "easy to use", it must be safe.
Sufficient redundancy is a necessary condition for the mass production of Robotaxi. It is critical to have sufficient resilience to deal with system failures. Ensuring driving safety through solution redundancy is the unchanging theme of driverless companies and car manufacturers.
WeRide is well aware of the importance of safety for Robotaxi and puts safety as the highest priority. They have equipped the Robotaxi GXR with
eight fully redundant systems including the FO wire-controlled chassis system, computing unit, and braking system redundancy, as well as eight redundant intelligent chassis to protect the bottom line of safety in all aspects.
“Weyuan must ensure that the car has enough capacity to take passengers to their destination.”
Xu Liren, head of hardware at WeRide, said that WeRide and Yuancheng have done a lot of system design and development, and have strengthened the vehicle's chassis, connection and power supply methods, sensors, etc. After any independent system fails, the vehicle can continue to operate safely, and the car must be able to take passengers to a safe enough place.
"We have eight fully redundant systems
,
including the FO-by-wire chassis system, computing unit, and brake system redundancy
. A large number of functions and costs in the autonomous driving system are in the redundant systems that may not be used in a lifetime, but we think it is worth it."
Eight redundant intelligent chassis bring eight times more peace of mind to consumers.
In fact, WeRide’s ability to achieve eight-fold redundancy also means that China’s autonomous driving industry is gradually maturing.
Xu Liren told Leifeng.com that in fact, early technology could also be realized, but the industrial chain was not well developed and many parts had no supplier choice. They had to be developed independently, which was costly. Now the industry has a deeper understanding of redundancy, and everything from suppliers to vehicle manufacturers to autonomous driving companies is gradually maturing. The technology has just reached a point of maturity, and eight-fold redundancy is commercially feasible.
The redundancy of autonomous driving requires sufficient computing power. WeRide's HPC 2.0 high-performance computing platform has 1,300 TOPS AI computing power, which can fully meet computing power requirements and enable GXR to make accurate judgments and immediate responses in complex road environments.
GXR not only provides all-round protection for vehicle driving safety, but also pays attention to vehicle interior design.
WeRide has designed multiple slow-stop exit devices, all four doors are affixed with emergency exit signs, and the central armrest box is equipped with a slow-stop button and a window-breaking safety hammer, which are convenient for passengers to quickly use in an emergency and escape from danger. In addition, there are no sharp corners and edges in the car to protect the safety of passengers.
Some people are concerned about the loss of the B-pillar that may result in a loss of strength and safety performance.
First of all, let me make it clear that the hidden B-pillar does not mean that the B-pillar is removed. The B-pillar is inside the door and remains when the door is closed.
Secondly, WeRide's B-pillar-free design effectively enhances the strength of the vehicle body by using high-strength materials, optimizing the vehicle body structure and introducing advanced manufacturing technology, which can better ensure the safety of passengers.
With the release of the country's L3 autonomous driving policy and consumers' increasingly urgent demand for high-level intelligent driving, automakers have already reached new heights in intelligent driving.
Faced with the complex and complicated road conditions in China, WeRide’s Robotaxi can be mass-produced, which is naturally inseparable from the accumulation of intelligent driving hardware.
GXR's hardware conditions are strong, reaching the industry's high level in both quantity and configuration. GXR is equipped with
WeRide's new generation sensor suite Sensor Suite 5.6
. The roof sensor and the car side blind spot camera module (capsule form) are designed with low wind resistance and streamlined design. It integrates more than 20 sensors including high-performance and low-cost laser radar, high-definition and high-dynamic camera, RTK high-precision combined inertial navigation module, etc., which can achieve 360° blind spot around and 200 meters ahead without blind spot perception.
With the support of these intelligent driving sensors, GXR has the industry's first-tier all-weather, ultra-long-range, and high-perception intelligent driving hardware perception capabilities, and can cope with extreme scenarios such as high dynamics and low light.
As a mass-produced Robotaxi
model
truly developed for the public
, GXR has the industry-leading L4 public road operation capability and can operate around the clock.
Taking the high-speed scenario as an example, there are many technical points behind it. When the lighting environment at high speed is poor, or when encountering extreme situations such as abandoned tires on the ground or objects dropped from the car, the car must decide in advance whether to change lanes or brake, how to avoid, and the detection distance must be longer.
GXR has extremely high adaptability to complex scenarios,
and can handle all kinds of complex long-tail scenarios and sudden road conditions with ease, including congested urban areas during rush hours in the morning and evening, highways at night, and urban villages with mixed traffic of people and vehicles.
Xu Liren added that the sensors used are closer to mass-produced vehicles, and the kit cost has also been optimized. Reliability and quality are in accordance with the high standards of car companies. Production quality and design quality are the basis of redundancy. Without these, real mass production is impossible.
In short, GXR can meet various travel needs at all times, all weathers, and in all scenarios
.
Whether it is a single-person business trip or a family trip or a gathering of friends, GXR can easily carry it.
WeRide announced that GXR will soon start public operation mode. In the near future, passengers can experience it for themselves through the "WeRide Go App", view the operation range of GXR in real time, and book the nearest pick-up point and destination.
02
Going overseas to seek gold requires real skills
At present, going overseas is one of the hottest topics in China's automobile industry.
In 2023, China's automobile exports will reach 4.91 million units, a year-on-year increase of nearly 58%, surpassing Japan and ranking first in the world. Overseas markets have become the main incremental market for the automobile industry. As the market share of China's own brands continues to increase, the overseas expansion is also moving forward at full speed.
For intelligent driving companies, on the one hand, the growth rate of automobile sales in the domestic market is slowing down, and on the other hand, the industry is involuted due to higher requirements and lower prices from OEMs as capital recedes. Going overseas is becoming more and more of a necessary option.
The UAE is the first stop for Chinese new energy vehicles and industrial chains to go overseas to the Middle East. The capital Abu Dhabi is also a key gateway for Chinese companies to enter the Middle East market.
Why?
First, the market has strong payment capacity. The “payment” here refers to both industrial funds and market consumption capacity.
Abu Dhabi's oil and gas reserves are among the highest in the world, and its resources are very rich. 95% of the UAE's oil and 92% of its natural gas resources are in Abu Dhabi. Therefore, Abu Dhabi has a large number of the world's top sovereign funds. In addition, Abu Dhabi's per capita GDP is about more than 90,000 US dollars, Dubai more than 40,000 US dollars, Saudi Arabia about 20,000 to 30,000 US dollars, and Kuwait is also very high.
Second, the market demand is huge. Unlike China, which has developed public transportation, the public transportation system in Arab countries is imperfect, and cars are a necessity, with almost everyone owning a car. Moreover, as a developed country in the Middle East, the UAE has a shortage of local labor and higher labor costs. In addition, the climate in the Middle East is high, the air is dry, and the working environment is harsh, so there is a strong desire to apply autonomous driving products locally.
Third, the business environment is good. Abu Dhabi or the United Arab Emirates has a high degree of market openness, policy flexibility, and preferential tax policies. In the Middle East, its business environment is superior and the cost is low. More importantly, companies can successfully connect to the Middle East market through Abu Dhabi.
Compared with other Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi has better urban development, industrial production, etc., and attaches importance to industries such as new energy. Naturally, it has become the automotive industry center of the UAE.
A UAE fund manager told Leifeng.com that almost all investment in the Middle East's automotive industry comes from Abu Dhabi.
Everyone knows that the Middle East is now a golden city for gold digging, but there are not many companies that can really find gold. Many companies came with high hopes but returned disappointed, without getting any money or orders.
WeRide is one of the few, or even the only, company that has received money, orders, and licenses.
WeRide’s “luck” is actually the result of a combination of factors.
The first is of course foresight. Foresight brings WeRide the biggest weapon, which is the first-mover advantage. In the field of intelligent driving, when other domestic companies were still competing fiercely in China, WeRide set its sights on overseas.
China-Arab Industry Fund is one of the investors in WeRide's Series D financing. China-Arab Fund, full name is China-UAE Joint Investment Fund, each party contributed 50%, with a total scale of up to US$10 billion. The Series D financing not only solved the funding problem for WeRide, but also laid a solid foundation for its expansion in the Middle East market.
You can get the money and you can also have a place to live.
As early as 2021, WeRide launched the "first" Robotaxi operation project in the Middle East in Abu Dhabi, UAE. At that time, customers purchased WeRide's vehicles, technologies and services, and WeRide was able to provide Robotaxi operation services to the market.
In March 2023, WeRide officially settled in the China-Arab (UAE) Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Park and formed a local team. In July, WeRide obtained the world's "first" national-level full-domain autonomous driving license issued by the UAE.
This is the first national-level full-area autonomous driving road license in the Middle East and even the world, which means that WeRide's autonomous driving vehicles in the UAE can conduct comprehensive road testing and operations.
So far, this is the only national full-area autonomous driving road license in the UAE. With this license, all WeRide's autonomous driving vehicles can operate on all public roads in the UAE.
Currently, WeRide operates the largest Robotaxi fleet in the Middle East, and local residents can enjoy the convenient service of self-driving taxis through the TXAI App. The launch of this service not only improves the travel experience of local residents, but also provides valuable experience for the commercial application of self-driving technology.
The UAE provides WeRide with an entry point into the global market, and WeRide has also given the UAE a lot of positive feedback.
In recent years, China's autonomous driving industry has developed rapidly, and has also provided reference for other countries and regions. In 2021, the UAE actually had no actual policies and regulations. During this period, the UAE government has maintained close contact with WeRide to learn from China's policy formulation and industry implementation.
In addition, WeRide will also customize and improve Robotaxi based on the actual environment of the UAE.
The local high temperature has a huge impact on the electronic and mechanical components of self-driving cars. WeRide has specially designed a comprehensive thermal management system for the on-board computing platform, which can effectively perform heat recovery and cold emission management to solve the high temperature problem.
In Abu Dhabi, the humid and salty air from the sea breeze forms salt mist on the hardware surface, which is highly corrosive and turns into a conductive solution when in contact with water, posing a significant safety threat to sensitive sensors. WeRide has developed its own sensor cleaning system that can automatically identify dirt and water stains and trigger cleaning, allowing the autonomous driving fleet to continue to operate stably in extreme environments.
Recently, WeRide also announced a partnership with Uber to jointly promote the commercial operation of autonomous vehicles in the UAE.
This is not only a major breakthrough for China's autonomous driving technology in the Middle East, but also shows that WeRide's strategy of obtaining financing from the Middle East background and obtaining Middle East policies has once again achieved a milestone.
A desert, covered with gold; a ground covered with gold, a desert.
Just as in the popular game Black Myth, Sun Wukong encountered 81 difficulties on his journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures. For the excited companies, the overseas market is both gold and desert.
Waymo, the largest Robotaxi company in the United States, and Baidu's Carrot Run, the largest Robotaxi company in China, but the former is only in the United States and the latter is only in China. WeRide is the only Robotaxi company that has truly taken root in the Middle East/UAE and even achieved globalization.
It’s still Tesla. In addition to the eye-catching display of driverless taxis last week, Tesla robovan was also officially unveiled. However, this high-tech driverless freight truck is still a long way from being put into use. On the other side of the ocean, WeRide’s driverless minibus has been in public operation for 3 years and can easily cope with peak traffic in the city.
To put it bluntly, Tesla is still a futures product, but WeRide is a spot product.
WeRide’s globalization process does not stop there. It also has extensive experience in Robotaxi global operations.
In 2022, when other competitors had no time to react, WeRide took the lead in entering Singapore and won investment from SMRT, the largest local transportation company. This year, it also established cooperation with CTM, one of the largest local environmental protection companies.
In July this year, Singapore's first mass-produced L4 autonomous driving minibus passenger operation route on public roads was officially opened. The minibus running on the route was exactly WeRide's autonomous driving minibus.
WeRide's Robotaxi is already in operation in Nanjing, Ordos, Beijing, Guangzhou, Abu Dhabi, UAE and other cities. Continuous opening up to the outside world has made WeRide the most experienced company in operating Robotaxi. Currently, WeRide's operating services have exceeded 1,800 days, with zero active liability accidents.
At present, WeRide is the only intelligent driving company in the world that holds autonomous driving licenses in China, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, and its business has expanded to 30 cities in 7 countries around the world.
WeRide has developed L2 and L4 autonomous driving technologies through its core platform WeRide One. Through its five major product matrices, it provides a variety of services to overseas markets, including ride-hailing, on-demand public transportation, same-city freight, smart sanitation, and advanced smart driving solutions.
As a pioneer in the autonomous driving industry, WeRide has been demonstrating to the market the innovative capabilities and forward-looking thinking of Chinese companies in the field of smart travel, and that Chinese autonomous driving companies have great potential overseas.
03
GXR, what’s the difference?
When companies start talking about product quality and customer experience, it is time to truly compete on the comprehensive capabilities of their products. This time, GXR has improved the passenger experience in every dimension.
The first impression is that it is large and has a lot of space. Especially compared with the 2-seater released by Tesla last week, the 5-seater of WeRide GXR seems particularly spacious.
The GXR has such a "bold" space because it is upgraded and optimized from a 7-seater car, abandoning quantity but focusing on quality. They did their best to maximize the riding experience of WeRide GXR.
WeRide GXR has an ultra-long vehicle length of 5018mm, a vehicle headroom of 1340mm and an ultra-long wheelbase of 3100mm.
WeRide is also ingenious in design. GXR
is the first to remove the co-pilot seat
, freeing up more space in the front row for passengers. The second row has the best riding experience, and the seats are arranged independently. The effective legroom in the second row exceeds 0.5 meters, and the effective legroom in the third row exceeds 0.4 meters, fully satisfying the freedom of each passenger to stretch out.
The GXR has eliminated the passenger seat
and transformed it into a carry-on luggage area that
can accommodate at least one backpack and one 22-inch suitcase. Moreover, luggage can be loaded and passengers can get on board by opening the door once, without having to go through the trunk, saving time and effort.
Whether it is for family travel or business trips, short distances within the city or long distances on the airport highway, the GXR is more than enough.
WeRide GXR has thus achieved
the best "room ratio" in the Robotaxi field, and
industry insiders call it "the mass-produced self-driving taxi with the best space experience in the world to date."
The second is to simplify and facilitate access.
In order to give passengers a sense of space and convenience, WeRide GXR is designed with an ingenious idea:
the world's first hidden B-pillar design
, the front door and side sliding door can be opened at the same time. This design gives people a refreshing feeling the moment the door is opened. The maximum opening space is 1831mm wide and 1285mm high, forming an extra-large door opening for passengers to get on and off the vehicle easily.
Xu Liren told Leifeng.com that it is easy to rub the B-pillar when getting in and out of a general car. After the WeRide GXR removed the B-pillar
,
the opening of the side sliding door is larger than that of ordinary cars. You can enter the car and sit in a more relaxed posture. It is easier for people sitting close to the inner seat to enter, and there is more space for luggage.
The luggage area is an embedded design with a silicone pad at the bottom to prevent movement. "The robotaxi's AI driver must be the safest driver on the market." The automatic driving system will automatically avoid sudden acceleration and deceleration conditions, making the driving very smooth, further protecting the safety of luggage and passengers.
In terms of door opening methods, the hidden door handles and smart electric doors currently on the market have been criticized by passengers. Due to the lack of a unified industry standard, different brands of hidden door handles have different styles, and consumers who come into contact with them for the first time are often confused.
WeRide GXR’s opening method is simple and concise, with an electric sliding door that opens automatically with a light push, combining convenience with intelligence.
Xu Liren said that the GXR door handle is very intuitive, you can see the handle at a glance, it is very natural, and users can quickly get started. Passengers can choose to pull the door handle to open the door. In the future, passengers can also choose to open the door on the APP, and the tablet in the car can also close the door. The entire car can be controlled by software.
The launch of WeRide GXR has also injected new vitality into the global autonomous driving industry. With the commercial deployment of GXR, we look forward to witnessing more wonderful stories about autonomous driving unfold around the world.
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