Chinese autonomous taxi developer AutoX has announced that a safety driver is no longer required in the vehicle while it is in operation.
For the past two years, AutoX has operated a fleet of RoboTaxis in downtown Shenzhen, China, in a variety of weather conditions, with onboard safety drivers.
However, the company said that its RoboTaxi is now “hardware ready”, which means it is equipped with the required hardware design to support a completely driverless service.
The Level 4 autonomous vehicles could first be deployed in Shanghai, following last year’s announcement of AutoX’s partnership with the city to launch 100 RoboTaxis.
The RoboTaxi uses FCA’s Chrysler Pacifica minivan for its vehicle base. Its rooftop is integrated with an array of 360° solid state lidar sensors from DJI and Robosense, along with numerous high-definition cameras, blind spot lidar sensors and radar sensors.
The sensor suite is designed to perceive the world at a higher resolution and longer distance – beyond 300m – than other solutions on the market.
It can also detect small objects at a far distance, which makes it useful in the urban scenarios.
The hybrid minivan is also equipped with AutoX’s proprietary Level-4 vehicle control unit XCU, which powers and integrates the vehicle’s self-driving stacks and sensors.
Designed for urban driving environments in China, the XCU has been designed to offer a faster processing speed and higher computation capability.
Want to learn more about autonomous vehicles and the technologies enabling their testing and development? CiTTi Exhibition takes place on the 3rd and 4th of June at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena. Register your interest to attend at www.cittiexhibition.co.uk
