Beijing (Gasgoo)- Pony.ai and Toyota Motor showcased their jointly developed Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle powerd by Pony.ai's sixth-generation L4 autonomous driving suite at the 5th China International Import Expo (CIIE). According to Pony.ai, the standardized manufacturing of its first batch ADK (autonomous driving kit) has been kicked off. The vehicles have gone through a four-month-long closed road test. The first batch of the Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicles will be put into Robotaxi service in first-tier Chinese cities in the first half of 2023. The Sienna Autono-MaaS vehicle displayed at the CIIE features the similar exterior design as the Sienna for retail.

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Baidu's autonomous driving mobility service, Apollo Go, started off pilot paid commercial operation in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province. As one of the earliest cities to adopt autonomous mobility services in China, Changsha holds a favorable ecosystem and test environment for the intelligent connected vehicle industry. The city established a national-level intelligent connected vehicle test area and a 100-square-kilometer intelligent connected open city road area. It constructed 100km of intelligent highway and a 7.8-km smart bus demonstration route. The achievements created the fundamental conditions for the development of Apollo Go's commercialization in the city.

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On April 14th, the island province in the South China Sea, Hainan, saw its Bo'ao Dongyu Island V2X project completed and start trial operation. According to the Hainan Provincial Department of Industry and Information Technology, the V2X project covers two autonomous driving connection routes, one of which starts from the Bo'ao Airport to the Pelan Bridge, consisting of 13 kilometers of fully open roads, and the other 4-km inbound route stretches from the Pelan Bridge to the Golden Coast Hotel. The testing area features all-around 5G connectivity, four smart bus stops, and a command center. The area also allows digital twin monitoring and control via its roadside demonstration for 5G and C-V2X. Primarily, there are four Robotaxis, four Robobuses, two crewless street cleaning vehicles, and two autonomous vending vehicles in use for the pilot demonstration.

Beijing (Gasgoo)- The Nasdaq-listed autonomous driving company TuSimple has entered into strategic cooperation with China's LiDAR supplier, RoboSense, TuSimple announced on April 14th. Per the cooperation, the two companies will focus on deploying RoboSense's RS-LiDAR-M1 intelligent solid-state LiDAR onto TuSimple's L2 and L4 autonomous commercial vehicles. The partners will work on mass-producing ADAS and autonomous driving system, and explore the potential of a high-performance, auto-grade, and production-ready integrated LiDAR perception solution under logistics scenarios. All in all, TuSimple believes that the cooperation will help accelerate the large-scale commercialization expansion of its autonomous commercial vehicles and AFN technology. In December last year, TuSimple had successfully completed the world's first fully autonomous test on open roads with its driverless heavy-duty trucks, without safety drivers or any other human interventions.

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese tech giant Baidu and GAC AION, the wholly-owned NEV subsidiary of GAC Group, on Oct. 26 announced the launch of a new version of the Apollo Moon Robotaxi, which is based on GAC AION's all-electric vehicles and Baidu's factory-installed autonomous driving system (hereinafter referred to as "the Apollo Moon AION version"). On the basis of the ANP (Apollo Navigation Pilot) independent closed loop, the Apollo Moon AION version is capable of the driverless running under specific conditions and the autonomous driving in complex urban traffic scenarios thanks to a tailor-made LiDAR unit and self-driving redundancy design, according to a press release from Baidu Apollo. On the side of vehicle hardware, the Apollo Moon rides on GAC AION's GEP (GAC Electric Platform) 2.0 platform dedicated to all-electric vehicles. Involving an R&D investment of 3 billion yuan ($469.91 million), the platform features a remarkable capability of autonomous driving software and hardware integration and is earlier for autonomous driving tech suppliers to deeply develop vehicle control systems thanks to its EV-focused essence. Owing to the thorough upgrades of both software and hardware, the Apollo Moon AION features lower manufacturing cost per car than that of the former-generation cars, while its overall performance has been greatly improved.

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- China's state-owned BAIC Group will strive to realize the volume production of Level 4 autonomous driving products and ripen the development of Level 5 technologies, Jiang Deyi, chairman of BAIC Group, said at the 2020 World Intelligent Connnected Vehicle Conference (WICV). According to Jiang, the group will take continuous steps to develop intelligent technologies, products, transport system and ecosystem, and aims to launch platforms for ICV (intelligent-connected vehicle)-related core technologies, including autonomous driving domain controller, Ethernet safety gateway, IoV (Internet of Vehicles)-related big data, 5G technology and intelligent driving algorithm, by 2025. The BEIJING-X7 mid-sized SUV, a vital member of the new "BEIJING" brand series, and its PHEV models incorporate the research achievements of Beijing brand in intelligent networking, new energy product development, vehicle platform and vehicle safety, etc., according to the 2020 interim report released by BAIC Motor, the group's HK-listed subsidiary. BAIC Motor also said it will continue to carry out in-depth strategic cooperation with intelligent tech companies, such as Beidou Zhilian, Microsoft, Huawei and ByteDance, so as to push ahead with the R&D of new energy products like 48V hybrid electric vehicle. At the 2020 WICV, a new-generation Level 4 autonomous car jointly developed by BAIC Group and DiDi's autonomous driving subsidiary made its debut and provide test ride for viewers.

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Baidu announced on October 11 that it has fully opened its Apollo Go Robotaxi service to ordinary users in Beijing. Consumers are able to enjoy self-driving taxi rides for free in dozens of pick-up spots in Beijing Economic Technological Development Area, Haidian District and Shunyi District with no appointment required. According to Baidu's Sina Weibo account, the free robotaxi service will be available from October 10 to November 6. Users can hail the service via Baid Maps or Apollo Go Apps. Currently, an Apollo Robotaxi is allowed to accommodate up to two passengers aged between 18 and 60. Based on the current laws and regulations, safety drivers are still required to ensure driving safety.