At the recently held WAIC 2024 World Artificial Intelligence Conference, Robotaxi (autonomous taxi) once again became a popular track, and the commercialization path has also become a hot topic in the industry.
A reporter from China Business News noticed that during the WAIC 2024 event, companies such as Saike Intelligent, Xiaoma Yixing, and Baidu Zhixing obtained the Shanghai driverless intelligent connected vehicle demonstration application license, becoming one of the first companies to obtain this qualification. In addition, travel companies such as T3 Travel and Ruqi Travel also showcased their respective layouts and achievements in the field of Robotaxi at the conference.
It is worth mentioning that relevant departments are also actively promoting the improvement of laws and regulations related to intelligent connected vehicles and autonomous driving, accelerating the commercial application of Robotaxi. At present, five departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Transport have identified 20 cities (consortia) as pilot cities for the "vehicle road cloud integration" application of intelligent connected vehicles. As the first city in China to implement autonomous driving testing policies, Shanghai has opened multiple demonstration zones.
When will Robotaxi enter large-scale commercial operation? In the view of T3 Travel CEO Cui Dayong, 2027 is expected to become a turning point for the commercialization of autonomous driving operations. On the one hand, with the advent of the era of artificial intelligence big models, autonomous driving technology is becoming increasingly mature. On the other hand, the application cost of autonomous vehicles is continuously decreasing.
Ni Licheng, CEO of Xiangdao Travel and Chairman and General Manager of Xiangdao Car Rental, also believes that the full commercialization of Robotaxi will arrive earlier than expected by the industry and consumers. The commercialization of Robotaxi will have a profound impact on various aspects of the automotive and ride hailing industry, including technological innovation, regulatory revisions, employment status, and industrial ecology. No matter how the Robotaxi industry develops, consumers will become the "biggest winners" of technological innovation and industrial applications in the future.
Competition for Robotaxi Market Cake
Intelligent driving is entering a rapid development stage and has become a market focus pursued by major car and technology companies.
Xiangdao Car Rental, a subsidiary of Xiangdao Travel, has provided nearly a hundred vehicles during WAIC 2024, covering all vehicle types including guest Buick GL8, government Toyota Coaster, and volunteer buses, and can respond to the needs of different functional personnel at any time.
The reporter learned that Xiangdao Robotaxi is the first L4 autonomous driving operation platform with a background in the automotive industry in China. It fully integrates SAIC Motor Corporation's industrial advantages such as passenger cars, SAIC Smart, and Momenta, and continues to explore the application and innovation of autonomous driving technology in urban travel scenarios.
As early as December 2021, Xiangdao Robotaxi had launched C-end services in Jiading District of Shanghai and Xiangcheng District of Suzhou. In February 2022, Xiangdao Robotaxi was selected as one of the first demonstration application projects for the "unveiling and leading" of intelligent connected vehicles in Shanghai; In December of the same year, the Xiangdao Robotaxi 2.0 vehicle, equipped with SAIC AiLab's self-developed advanced autonomous driving 2.0 technology and achieving mass production of pre installed vehicles, was launched on the market. In April 2023, Xiangdao Robotaxi was awarded the first batch of Shanghai Intelligent Connected Rental Demonstration Operation Notice and Demonstration Operation Certificate; In July of the same year, Xiangdao Robotaxi, together with Saike Intelligent and Antu Auto X, fully launched demonstration operations in Jiading District.
According to relevant statistical data, as of the end of May this year, the order volume of Xiangdao Robotaxi service has exceeded 300000, with more than 300 open points.
Coincidentally, Koma Tomohiro also unveiled the sixth generation Toyota Sienna Robotaxi at WAIC 2024, providing citizens with an unmanned autonomous driving shuttle service experience. It is reported that the experience route is nearly 4 kilometers long, running from the unmanned driving sub venue of the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center to the InterContinental Shanghai World Expo Hotel, passing through two popular stations, the World Expo Center Station and the China Art Palace Station. Surrounding citizens can use the "Xiaoma Zhixing" taxi hailing app to hail a ride and experience the customized route mentioned above.
As the first city in China to introduce autonomous driving testing policies, Shanghai has successively opened up autonomous driving testing roads in demonstration zones such as Jiading and Jinqiao, focusing on building an intelligent travel service ecosystem.
In this context, Xiaoma Zhixing continues to expand its service scope, allowing autonomous driving to benefit residents in more areas. In May 2023, Xiaoma Zhixing and Jinjiang Taxi reached a cooperation agreement to carry out intelligent rental demonstration and operation activities within the scope of the open test road in Jiading District; In July 2023, we obtained the first batch of road testing permits for driverless intelligent connected vehicles in Pudong New Area, Shanghai.
In addition, Ruqi Travel also showcased its autonomous driving data solutions at the conference, including artificial intelligence data and model solutions, high-precision maps, and intelligent transportation solutions. Among them, artificial intelligence data and model solutions are focused on providing a one-stop solution for the autonomous driving industry, from data collection, data annotation, data management to model training.
It is reported that Ruqi Travel has independently developed a set of tools and platforms that can be used for multimodal training data, including OnTime Data Collects, OnTime Data Management, OnTime Data Encoder, and OnTime AI Trainer, a comprehensive platform that integrates data container management, model development, model training, and model evaluation.
Full commercialization is expected to arrive earlier
The layout and application of artificial intelligence technology have also provided support for the commercialization of Robotaxi for travel enterprises.
On July 4th, at the WAIC 2024 "Yangtze River Delta Collaborative Innovation AI New Quality Productivity Development Forum", the Yangtze River Delta "Artificial Intelligence+" Industry Innovation Alliance was officially established, and more than 10 industry segmentation leading enterprises, including T3 Travel, became the first batch of member enterprises.
In November 2023, T3 Travel teamed up with China Telecom to create the first ecological model in the domestic travel industry - the Qianmo Model, further exploring the practical application of artificial intelligence in the travel industry. According to Cui Dayong, the Qianmo model has been applied in three scenarios: driver and passenger services, intelligent scheduling, and travel security, making customer service more efficient, drivers receive orders faster, and safety guarantees more intelligent.
Cui Dayong stated that T3 Travel will take the opportunity of joining the "Artificial Intelligence+" industry innovation consortium in the Yangtze River Delta to continuously enhance cross industry and cross regional industry university research cooperation, work together with all parties to promote new scenarios and models of artificial intelligence applications, and help the Yangtze River Delta region become one of the most suitable regions for developing new quality and productivity of artificial intelligence.
Regarding the prospect of large-scale commercial operation of Robotaxi, Cui Dayong said, "When the cost of Robotaxi vehicles exceeds 1 million yuan, there are no commercial application scenarios. Currently, we have seen some companies launch mass-produced models under 300000 yuan. Such vehicles can be mass-produced and applied on a large scale
In the long run, artificial intelligence will greatly change people's travel experience. "Cui Dayong gave an example that with the arrival of autonomous driving, especially the era of fully autonomous driving, passengers will enjoy their own exclusive space in the car. For example, passengers can have TV calls, play games, or watch videos in the car, which is a private and completely relaxing personal space.
Saike Intelligent has been conducting research and development on L4 level autonomous driving for three years, completing the development and implementation of three generations of L4 intelligent driving. "Shanghai Saike Intelligent CTO Yu Qiankun said that L3 and L4 level intelligent driving do not mean that they can be on par with human drivers. For example, when a pedestrian crosses a zebra crossing ahead, the driver will judge whether to slow down based on the actual situation, but autonomous driving will slow down regardless of whether there are people on the zebra crossing. Unconventional driving habits will inevitably affect traffic during rush hour
According to Yu Qiankun's analysis, there is still a gap of 2 to 3 years between autonomous driving technology and driver driving. Saike Intelligence is importing data on human driving habits into intelligent driving systems to make autonomous driving "more human like".
Ni Licheng also stated that the development of the Robotaxi industry still requires collaborative efforts from government regulatory departments, vehicle manufacturers, intelligent driving technology companies, and travel service operators. Only by climbing the "four peaks" of technology, cost, ecology, and policy can Robotaxi better accelerate its entry into the era of comprehensive commercialization.