Sales of Neolix, a driverless car that played an important role during the epidemic, surged

Although the epidemic has brought very serious negative impacts to all walks of life, it has also allowed many start-ups to stand out in this scientific war against the epidemic. Neolix is ​​a typical example. The company's unmanned vehicle business has surged and attracted customers including Alibaba, Meituan Dianping, and JD.com.

Neolix, a Beijing-based autonomous logistics startup, completed a Series A+ round of funding of approximately RMB 200 million (US$29 million) in February, which the company said would be used for mass production of its autonomous vehicles.

According to public information, Neolix has sold 225 vehicles to customers such as Huawei, Alibaba, Meituan Dianping and JD.com in the past two years, and has been deployed in 10 cities in China. In April 2018, Neolix completed its angel round of financing from CHJ and Yuanhe Yuandian. In early 2019, it completed its A round of financing led by Yunqi Capital and followed by Yaotu Capital. So far, the total amount of financing has exceeded US$43 million.

In the past two months, more than 200 orders have been received for driverless cars. Founder Yu Enyuan said that before this, the company had only produced 125 units since it started production in May last year. In the early days of the outbreak, all of Neolix's inventory of driverless cars had been booked out.

Neolix's driverless vehicles have a 2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4-meter container and four-wheel disc brakes. They combine sensors and high-definition maps to capture and detect and avoid obstacles with "centimeter-level" accuracy, and can travel 100 kilometers on a single battery charge on a 20-degree inclined road, and can reach speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

Neolix's autonomous delivery vehicles have reached the Society of Automotive Engineers' Level 4 (L4), which means they can be fully autonomous in some or all situations. Yu said the vehicles could also be used to disinfect streets and deliver food to frontline workers doing epidemic prevention work.