DRIVERLESS CARS AT YOUR SERVICE
Yanxiu Gu, Product specialist, Chinese equities ODDO BHF AM.
” The industry’s growth is being propelled by collaboration between tech companies, car manufacturers, ride- hailing platforms, and hardware suppliers, forming a comprehensive ecosystem to accelerate innovation”
In Wuhan, a major city in central China, when you hail a ride via your phone, the car that arrives may not have a driver behind the wheel, yet it can still navigate smoothly through traffic and obstacles. Don’t worry; simply input your phone number, hop in, and the vehicle will automatically take you to your destination. Inside the car, you can control the temperature and select the music on a screen. The starting fare for such a ride is just 4 RMB (about $0.55).
This is Apollo Go, the signature project of Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, in the field of autonomous driving. As Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service platform, Apollo Go has already been tested in 10 cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing, and plans to deploy 1,000 autonomous taxis in Wuhan this year. As of July 28, 2024, Apollo Go had provided the public with over 7 million rides. Alongside Baidu’s Apollo Go, Chinese companies like AutoX, Pony.ai, and WeRide are also launching autonomous taxi services in multiple cities.
In recent years, autonomous driving technology has transitioned from science-fiction to everyday reality. As one of the largest automotive markets globally, China is leading the technological revolution.
CHINA STANDS AT THE FOREFRONT OF AN AUTONOMOUS DRIVING REVOLUTION
According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Chinese companies such as Baidu, AutoX, and Pony.ai are leading the MPI (miles per intervention) rankings, averaging less than one intervention per 10,000 miles driven in autonomous mode. These results put China’s autonomous driving technology on par with major US players like Waymo (a subsidiary of Alphabet), Zoox (Amazon) and Cruise (GM).
China has also made great progress in commercializing autonomous driving, with fully driverless operations now underway in several cities, including Wuhan. Apollo Go is also projected to break even by the end of 2024, establishing a global benchmark for the commercialization of autonomous driving. In contrast, other countries like France and Germany, though also advancing in autonomous driving technology, remain in the small-scale testing phase, still requiring a safety driver on board.
