Alibaba‘s Amap and AutoX have partnered up to launch a self driving vehicle as Robotaxi, in China’s ride-hailing network for commercial service in China. The service is being launched first in Shanghai.
The city of Shanghai is the first area where collaboration is launching its service, which is named ‘AutoX RoboTaxi.’ This is big news considering it is the first time a self-driving service has been available on a major ride hailing platform in China. The service is being offered by AutoX (also known as AutoNavi and Gaode) alongside the Alibaba owned, Amap Co. Ltd.
The process of using the service is relatively simple and quite similar to any regular taxi hailing service. A user must enter their pickup and drop locations, after which, the application will list all vehicles that can fulfill the request, including AutoX RoboTaxi vehicles. One can choose between the regular and autonomous vehicles selections and the app will simply send a car closest to the user in either case.
According to AutoX CEO, Dr. Jianxiong Xiao, “The seamless combination of autonomous and human-driving fleets is crucial for the adoption and commercialization of self-driving technology. The service area of autonomous vehicles is an ever-increasing yet geo-fenced region, and the fleet size takes time to grow. This combination is a must-have for an autonomous driving company to be able to provide a truly useful service for all riders.”
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At the moment, other self-driving car services only offer drops at fixed locations. However, the AutoX’s service will have users be picked up and dropped off at any location within the city. This provides a greater degree of flexibility and is a lot more viable and convenient for its customers. Furthermore, AutoX vehicles are capable of going speeds up to 80km/h and has also been developed with the recent pandemic in mind.
The AutoX service is streamlined identity confirmation and ride starting process, which is completely touchless. For its self driving car, AutoX employs the V2X technology that is connected to servers via 5G networking. This allows the vehicle to communicate with road infrastructure like traffic lights, and obtain other information as well. At the moment, the RoboTaxi service is the first real-world application of Shanghai’s V2X infrastructure, which was recently built as part of China’s national New Infrastructure Initiative.
The practical applications and implications of this service is enormous. Not only does it open a new breed of service to the existing industry, but it also further advances the technology behind it and its implementation. This will also help the large population of Shanghai to move freely around the city with lower risks and go about daily commutes to subway stations, grocery stores, and more. The service will have 100 cars in its arsenal and will even start accepting free promotional rides to early users from 27th April 2020.
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