With 5G technology, autonomous vehicles are fast becoming a reality and Chinese firms are at the forefront. Two of China’s leading self-driving car firms Didi Chuxing and AutoX are reportedly set to launch their own autonomous ride-hailing pilot projects. According to a TecNode report, two sources familiar with the matter hinted that the pilot projects will commence in late May in the outskirts of Shanghai.
The projects run separately even though both firms were reported to have commenced their partnerships with the Shanghai government around the same time.
The race to be among the first to launch commercial autonomous ride-hailing cabs have been raging in China with Pony.ai and Baidu at the forefront. AutoX and Didi are aiming to become among the first to get the nod to commercialize its Robotaxi operations.
When contacted to confirm the news, a company representative told TechNode that Didi was actively testing robo-taxi in Shanghai and hopes to launch the pilot service as soon as possible.
On the other hand, AutoX announced Friday, the opening of what it claimed is Asia’s largest robotaxi operations centre in Shanghai. The centre sits in an area spanning 750 square meters and located in the northwestern Jiading district. The operation is expected to collect and process “petabytes” of driving data from road testing in Shanghai each week. In addition, the operation will also be deployed for performance training simulations in a virtual traffic environment. It will also house facilities to test hardware in climate conditions such as high-pressure water and high temperature.
AutoX claims that users “will soon be able to hail a ride” in its autonomous vehicles but the app is yet to be unveiled.
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