A CTO: There are no technical barriers to autonomous driving

Recently, Pony.ai CTO Lou Tiancheng was asked in an interview with 36Kr, "Does the large-scale commercialization of Robotaxi need to wait until the world model appears?"

Lou Tiancheng replied: "This may have nothing to do with end-to-end, or end-to-end may help but not be the most direct decision. The mass production of L4 is related to cost, operation, and policy. If there is a world model, the cost may be further reduced, which will be better. The fundamental reason why I don't agree with some L2 statements is that today L4 has reached a state where there are no technical blockers."

Lou Tiancheng believes that there are no technical barriers to autonomous driving at present, and the technological process is already halfway through. The commercialization of technology is another important task. As for the large-scale implementation of Robotaxi, he said that by next year, the company can achieve positive profitability per vehicle, which will allow the company to enter a benign positive feedback.

Lou Tiancheng also made it clear that today's high-level intelligent driving, even with end-to-end technology, can only reach L2.99, and it is difficult to reach L4. In the industry, L2 usually refers to intelligent assisted driving, which requires human drivers to take driving responsibility, while L4 is autonomous driving, and the vehicle is the driving responsibility subject.

At present, Pony.ai has three main business lines: autonomous driving travel services (Robotaxi), autonomous freight trucks (Robotruck), and intelligent driving business for passenger cars (POV). As of the end of August 2024, Pony.ai has accumulated more than 35 million kilometers of autonomous driving road test mileage, of which unmanned autonomous driving test mileage exceeds 3.5 million kilometers. Zhang Ning, vice president of Pony.ai and head of the Beijing R&D center, believes that it will take at least 5 years for unmanned driving to impact the traditional travel market and will not completely replace humans.