SAIC Motor , one of the largest subsidiaries of the Chinese state; large automotive companies in the country, plans to activate its first level 4 self-driving robotaxis by the end of the year . The plan provides for a not very high number of cars, in total between 40 and 60, and only in two cities, Shanghai and Suzhou, but this is an important step forward and represents an ideal response to the experiment that another Chinese giant, Baidu, is doing in Beijing.
These taxis, taking advantage of the fourth level of driving automation, would therefore have the capacity; to travel without a driver to pay attention to the road , but only on certain predefined sections. Outside these areas, the vehicle must be able to stop the journey, for example by parking, if a person does not take control.
The announcement & egrave; arrived by voice of Zu Sijie, vice president of the company, who explained how the plan includes a mass production of these vehicles by 2025 . He also joked that SAIC, aka Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, will be able to; now be used as an acronym for Shanghai AI Corp.
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Sijie also specified that the company will continue to use artificial intelligence to collect and analyze data on autonomous driving so to obtain the hoped-for results within the next five years, combining what has been achieved with the latest developments in LiDAR technology, the same one that will use even Volvo for example.
The robotaxi market does not only see China and its companies, such as SAIC and Baidu, but also AutoX as a protagonist: & egrave; a few days ago the news that Cruise has received in California the necessary permits to start a pilot program, for the moment without the possibility; to charge passengers no cost for the service.
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