China's Robotaxi development is moving at full speed

China is setting its sights on self-driving taxis and is rapidly increasing testing of autonomous vehicles (autonomous driving). Autonomous driving testing for self-driving trucks and cargo is also growing. Road testing of autonomous vehicles with safety drivers has been carried out in more than 20 provinces and/or cities in China. Starting in April 2018, China allowed local governments to arrange road testing for electric vehicles.

There are a number of factors that could be contributing to the strong growth, including growing venture capital investment, government support, and the emergence of leading self-driving companies.

China is going all-in on robotaxi adoption. Autonomous driving startups are the clear leaders in developing robotaxi software and testing for future autonomous driving deployments in China. These include Apollo, AutoX, Pony.ai, WeRide, and Didi’s autonomous driving subsidiary. Autonomous driving deployments will leverage 5G and C-V2X technology. This will provide a useful infrastructure for antivirus operations and potentially reduce some of the complexity of antivirus deployments.

This is a good strategy for China’s autonomous driving future. This infrastructure will be of great benefit to teleoperation, which China is undoubtedly planning to use for its autonomous driving. Teleoperation is now part of Baidu’s Apollo open software platform. There are signs that China will use this autonomous driving infrastructure to manage or provide guidance for large-scale autonomous driving operations in the future. This will not be possible until 2030 or later. This may evolve into the equivalent of an “air traffic control system” for some or all autonomous driving use cases. Most of the leading autonomous driving startups gained their early knowledge and experience from testing in California. This happened because driving tests in California were available in China several years before they were. This allowed Chinese startups to quickly expand in China after obtaining autonomous driving testing permits. China is also investing in other autonomous driving products such as electric vehicles and autonomous trucks, but the investment level is lower than that of autonomous taxis. The Covid pandemic has not had much impact on China’s autonomous driving investment in robot taxi technology and services. The US is a different story, and the main focus of autonomous driving has shifted to vans and autonomous trucks.

We summarize some of the major autonomous driving testing activities in China. Most autonomous driving tests focus on robotaxi use cases.

Baidu Apollo

Baidu Apollo is a pioneer in autonomous driving testing in China. As of July 2020, Baidu Apollo has exceeded 6 million kilometers (3.73 million miles) in urban road testing. Baidu has more than 500 autonomous vehicles and has tested them in 27 cities around the world, including California. Baidu Apollo has obtained 150 licenses for autonomous driving testing in China, including 120 licenses that allow autonomous driving to carry passengers. As of June 2020, Baidu has completed 100,000 passenger trips. Baidu calls its robot service Apollo Go, and the service is currently free.

All current autonomous driving tests and robotaxis use safety drivers.

百度阿波罗于2018年在北京开始自动驾驶测试，2018年行驶了13.9万公里。在2019年显著增加，达到89.4万公里。

Baidu is the first company to provide robotaxi services in Beijing. It began testing robotaxi technology in December 2019, and as of August, it had accumulated more than 500,000 kilometers of robotaxi testing and was approved to start providing services. Baidu Apollo Robotaxi currently operates 40 autonomous vehicles in Beijing, transporting passengers to 100 pick-up and drop-off points. The service area includes a road network of about 700 kilometers.

They have also deployed robot cars in Changsha, Guangzhou, Chongqing and Cangzhou.

Baidu opened its Apollo Go service to the public with 45 autonomous vehicles in Changsha in April 2020. The Apollo Go service has 55 pick-up and drop-off points covering an area of ​​70 square kilometers.

Baidu launched the Apollo Go service in Cangzhou in August 2020 with 30 self-driving cars. It also has 55 pick-up and drop-off points covering an area of ​​130 square kilometers.

In March 2020, Baidu won a project worth more than $7 million in Chongqing to develop an autonomous driving test area with 5G and C-V2X network capabilities. Robotic services are also expected in the future.

Baidu has an Apollo Park location in Beijing, one of the largest autonomous driving test sites in China, which was completed in May 2020. The test area supports the development of autonomous vehicles as well as C-V2X and 5G technologies. The 13,500 square meter (145,300 square foot) Apollo Park contains more than 200 autonomous vehicles and can support all aspects of autonomous driving development and testing.

Baidu is using Hongqi EV for autonomous driving testing and robotics services. Hongqi EV was jointly developed by Baidu and FAW and released in August 2019 for autonomous driving. Baidu's fifth-generation autonomous driving software and hardware were installed during the production phase of the Hongqi EV SUV.

At the Baidu World Conference in September 2020, Baidu demonstrated autonomous driving without a safety driver, but using teleoperation for safety. Baidu has developed its own teleoperation business, using 5G cellular networks and C-V2X. Teleoperation allows Baidu's autonomous driving to be controlled remotely instead of with a safety driver. Currently, Baidu has completed more than 1,000 hours of teledriving training without any accidents.

In August 2020, Baidu Apollo won a $67 million contract to implement a smart city project in Guangzhou. Baidu will develop a 5G and C-V2X-based intelligent transportation network for autonomous driving, robotaxis, and other Maas use cases.

AutoX Autonomous Driving

AutoX has autonomous driving activities in both China and the United States. AutoX launched a self-driving service for delivering groceries in a limited area of ​​San Jose, California in 2018. In 2019, AutoX achieved the best results in self-driving test results in California. In China, AutoX has operations in several cities, including Shanghai, where it has 100 self-driving vehicles on the road.

In China, AutoX focuses on robotaxi services and has partnered with multiple taxi operators and several automotive OEMs such as BYD, Dongfeng, and FCA.

AutoX received a $100 million investment from Dongfeng in 2019 and announced plans to produce L4 commercial vehicles. The company also signed an autonomous driving cooperation agreement with BYD, China's largest electric vehicle manufacturer. Alibaba is a major investor and supporter of AutoX.

At CES 2020, AutoX announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to develop robotaxi. The two companies will launch a robotaxi fleet in China, powered by AutoX's AI-powered driving system.

In addition, AutoX has also established a partnership with Letzgo, a taxi fleet operator with 16,000 taxis in 18 cities in China. In April 2020, AutoX opened a RoboTaxi Operation Center in Shanghai to manage data from its autonomous driving operations. The center will also provide extensive autonomous driving driving simulations to test complex driving scenarios and improve its driving software.

AutoX has also been testing autonomous driving in Shenzhen since 2018 and has formed a partnership with China's largest taxi operator. The company is using BYD electric vehicles in its robotaxi service in Shenzhen. AutoX will conduct autonomous driving testing activities in four other cities in China (Changzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhu and Wuhan).

AutoX is also looking into logistics and delivery business in China. AutoX has also established strategic partnerships with express delivery company ZTO Express and food delivery giant Meituan-Dianping.