Vroom, vroom, automated cars ready to zoom
China on its way to becoming the world’s largest market for unmanned vehicles
China is about to redefine ‘auto’ in automobile.
Chen Zhiqiang, 53, a taxi driver in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, for over 20 years, knows all about it.
He believed driverless or fully automated vehicles were a myth until reality, in the form of an autonomous blue taxi, materialized in front of him recently. Chen was astounded to see a white sensor box on its roof, which guided the blue vehicle to stop bang in front of him.
Upon entering the taxi, an automated female voice guided Chen to the iPad in the backseat and instructed him to key in his destination. Once he settled and fastened his seat belt, the taxi started moving automatically and wound its way steadily, without any human intervention.
“I just couldn’t move my eyes off the steering wheel, which kept turning left and right by itself. I can’t believe that a cold, lifeless machine will replace us human drivers and is capable of negotiating even complicated road conditions,” he said.
Chen recalled that during the 25-minute ride, the taxi, in a clinical fashion, made short work of complex scenarios such as crossing lanes, entering and exiting ramps, changing lanes, and overtaking trucks.
Chen was among the many citizens in Guangzhou who were surprised by the precision of automated vehicles during the launch of selfdriving taxis, or robotaxis, in late June, after the country’s autonomous driving startup WeRide announced that its self-driving taxi service will be available on Alibaba’s navigation platform Amap.
On Sept 10, internet search giant Baidu Inc launched Apollo Go Robotaxi, its self-driving taxi service, in Beijing. It became the first company to carry passengers in autonomous vehicles in the capital.
With nearly 100 pickup and drop-off stations covering residential and business areas in Haidian,
Yizhuang and Shunyi, the service encompasses the largest total area and longest road network of about 700 kilometers for manned autonomous driving test area in China.
But WeRide was the first autonomous vehicle company to start driverless vehicle fleet test in China. It represents a group of Chinese startups that revved up autonomous driving commercialization recently to catch up with Silicon Valley, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak sped up driverless applications.
“While players such as Waymo are halting their robotaxi pilots during the pandemic, over 30 companies are deploying autonomous delivery solutions in China,” said Bill Russo, founder of Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility.
Russo said in a note that the pandemic has also led stakeholders to comprehend the innate benefits of autonomous and robotics technologies, which were previously understood only from a productivity standpoint.
“A more dynamic system built upon autonomous and robotics technologies will allow economies and businesses to adapt to the rapidly transforming world and the new challenges it brings, such as more flexible and less centralized manufacturing,” he said.
In June, ride-hailing market leader Didi Chuxing opened its on-demand robotaxi services in Shanghai.
It followed tech giant Baidu Inc, known for its Apollo self-driving platform, which in April announced the opening of its self-driving taxi service in Changsha, Hunan province.
Momenta, a Daimler-backed Chinese autonomous driving startup, said that some of its vehicles will be driverless by 2022 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, where it received a test license, and its entire robotaxi fleet will operate without backup drivers from 2024.
The sector has also witnessed a flurry of major deals in the past few months. For instance, the autonomous driving unit of Didi Chuxing received $300 million in investment from Japan’s SoftBank. Pony.ai, a self-driving vehicle startup based in both China and the United States, finished a new round of funding totaling $462 million.
According to the latest report from global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co, China will become the world’s largest market for autonomous vehicles, with revenue from sales of such new cars and mobility services expected to exceed $500 billion by 2030.
It predicted that by 2030, the total sales value of autonomous vehicles is expected to hit $230 billion and autonomous vehicle-based services will generate a gross booking of around $260 billion.
Wu Gansha, CEO of Chinese selfdriving startup Uisee, believes the sector is now ready for a takeoff. “Investors are more confident about the commercialization of intelligent driving and hence willing to invest. From this year, we should start seeing large-scale commercialization of driverless vehicles,” Wu said. “We’ve been seeing a healthy pickup in orders.”