{"id":3859,"date":"2024-03-19T02:57:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T02:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/19\/self-driving-robotaxis-are-taking-off-in-china-cnn-business\/"},"modified":"2024-03-19T02:57:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T02:57:46","slug":"self-driving-robotaxis-are-taking-off-in-china-cnn-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/19\/self-driving-robotaxis-are-taking-off-in-china-cnn-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-driving robotaxis are taking off in China | CNN Business"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Self-driving<\/div>\n
\n

\n
\n Hong Kong<\/span>
\n CNN Business<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n The world has been inching toward fully autonomous cars for years<\/a>. In China, one company just got even closer to making it a reality.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Thursday, AutoX, an Alibaba
\n
\n (BABA)<\/a>-backed startup, announced it had rolled out fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Shenzhen. The company said it had become the first player in China to do so, notching an important industry milestone.\n <\/p>\n

\n Previously, companies operating autonomous shuttles on public roads in the country were constrained by strict caveats, which required them to have a safety driver inside.\n <\/p>\n

\n This program is different. In Shenzhen, AutoX has completely removed the backup driver or any remote operators <\/strong>for its local fleet of 25 cars, it said. The government isn\u2019t restricting where in the city AutoX operates, though the company said they are focusing on the downtown area.\n <\/p>\n

\n The company released a video of its minivan \u2014 the Fiat Chrysler Pacifica \u2014 navigating on its own through the city\u2019s downtown area, showing passengers getting in, loading a package into the backseat and letting a dog hop in for a spin.\n <\/p>\n

\n It also depicts the car navigating around loading trucks, veering past pedestrians, and performing a U-turn.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a dream,\u201d AutoX CEO Jianxiong Xiao said in an interview. \u201cAfter working so hard for so many years, we\u2019ve finally reached the point that the technology is mature enough, that we feel confident by ourselves, to really remove the safety driver.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Xiao said the company won over regulators after working to improve both its software and hardware. \u201cWe have over 100 vehicles driving every day on the road [in China] to capture data,\u201d he said. \u201cThe AI software is better [now.]\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFrom a technical point of view, the car is ready,\u201d Xiao said. \u201cIt\u2019s very crucial to have this car, otherwise we cannot go driverless.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n AutoX was founded in 2016 by Xiao, a former assistant lecturer at Princeton who still likes to be called \u201cProfessor X.\u201d The Shenzhen-based firm focuses on making the technology that goes into self-driving cars, and partners with major automakers, such as Fiat Chrysler, to develop and put out its robotaxis.\n <\/p>\n

\n The new initiative is still in trial mode and not currently open to the public. That likely won\u2019t change anytime soon, according to Xiao, who said that he hoped to obtain permission to expand the program to regular passengers in the next two or three years.\n <\/p>\n

\n While AutoX has claimed an edge in China, it\u2019s not the first time fully driverless shuttles have hit public roads. This summer, the company obtained approval to carry out completely autonomous tests on public roads in parts of San Jose, California, clearing another hurdle in one of its most important markets.\n <\/p>\n

\n In October, Alphabet\u2019s Waymo went a step further, saying<\/a> that it would start opening up its unmanned transportation service to members of the public in Phoenix, Arizona. (It now offers rides to passengers in the area through an app.)\n <\/p>\n

\n Domestic competition is also heating up. Recently, Chinese companies have started to let more ordinary people experience what it\u2019s like to ride in a self-driving car.\n <\/p>\n

\n This year, the coronavirus pandemic demonstrated the need<\/a> for contactless services, which encouraged the government to move faster with autonomous technology, said Xiao.\n <\/p>\n

\n In June, Didi, China\u2019s biggest ride-hailing firm, began offering<\/a> free rides in its autonomous vehicles within a designated area of Shanghai.\n <\/p>\n

\n Recently, Chinese tech giant Baidu
\n
\n (BIDU)<\/a> also announced that anyone could try its robotaxi service in certain districts of Beijing. Both of those programs require dedicated safety drivers.\n <\/p>\n

\n AutoX already has more than 100 robotaxis deployed in five Chinese cities, including Shanghai and Wuhan. Over the next year, it aims to double its reach to more than 10 local cities. Whether the company can pull humans from behind the wheel in other markets depends on local regulators, Xiao said.\n <\/p>\n

\n In Shanghai, its vehicles are available to public users, who can hail them through Alibaba\u2019s Autonavi app, a Chinese mapping app.\n <\/p>\n

\n The startup\u2019s latest approval from local authorities in Shenzhen came after six months of trials it had already conducted there.\n <\/p>\n

\n Some of the company\u2019s lessons so far include how to better adapt to traffic conditions in each place, according to Xiao. In Shenzhen, for instance, motorists often have to watch out for delivery workers on bikes and scooters, and drivers are known to drive more aggressively than in the United States, he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe traffic scenarios are much more challenging,\u201d he added. \u201cFor our AI, we had to do a lot of work to adapt to the local Chinese way of driving.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n China, home to the world\u2019s biggest auto sector, could someday become the top global market for automated vehicles, according to a report<\/a> from consulting firm McKinsey. It projects the country could generate as much as $1.1 trillion in revenue from autonomous mobility services by 2040.\n <\/p>\n

\n The industry, however, still faces a long road ahead. Xiao estimates it could take another five years for unmanned taxis to become the norm across China.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe bar is incredibly high,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely challenging, but we\u2019re very happy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hong Kong CNN Business \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 The world has been inching toward fully autonomous cars for years. In China, one company just got even closer to making it a reality. On Thursday, AutoX, an Alibaba (BABA)-backed startup, announced it had rolled out fully driverless robotaxis on public roads in Shenzhen. The company said it had become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/201202134709-autox-driverless-fleet-hp-video.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1225,447,449,448,168,233,451,1228,1231,450,452,454,455,456,6751,457,6750,6748,6749,459],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3861,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3859\/revisions\/3861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}