China AV - July Newsletter
Lately we hear a lot regarding disengagement between the two major global economics that affect even large commercial companies as Huawei last year and recently Bytedance. Hopefully, the environment can shift back to become more collaborative, just as been proved by Velodyne and Hesai recent collaboration announcement and drop of all IP lawsuits, which can serve as role-model for many more successful cross-border collaborations.
Goodbye safety driver! After announcing here the new regulation at south China allowing RoboTaxi to ride with no safety driver last month, WeRide has already obtained the first license this month at Guangzhou! All the details about those and so much more at the latest China Autonomous Vehicles Newsletter edition. Enjoy!
July. 1st: TuSimple initiated the world’s first Autonomous Freight Network (AFN) in the US. The network will roll out in stages, consisting of digitally mapped truck routes, strategically located terminals and an autonomous operations monitoring system. The three major US logistics service providers, UPS, Penske and US Xpress, will each work with the startup to bring the project to life over three phases.
July. 1st: iMotion closed Series B1 financing round of nearly RMB 100 million led by CCB Suzhou Science and Technology Fund, with participation from Suzhou Industrial Park Heyu venture capital, and existing investors Leading Ideal, Future Capital, and Shenzhen Guozhong Venture Capital Management. iMotion, founded in December 2016, is an AI high-tech company providing autonomous driving system solutions for OEM clients. Currently, it provides L1-L4 level autonomous driving system solutions, as well as two product lines including intelligent front-view cameras and autonomous driving domain controllers.
July.6th: Toyota has been permitted to conduct road tests for autonomous vehicles in Beijing, according to a list released by Beijing Innovation Center for Mobility Intelligent (BICMI). Toyota is granted the permission by Beijing for the first time. Toyota is highly active at the autonomous mobility sector and invested in multiple initiatives recently including $400 million in Pony.ai at Feb. 2020, launched a JV with SoftBank, dubbed MONET, to provide on-demand self-driving mobility service and invested in UBER.
July.9th: The digital currency research institute of the Central Bank announced that it has reached a cooperation with DiDi to jointly study and explore the scenario innovation and application of digital RMB in the field of intelligent transportation. The two will work to promote an ecological construction of digital RMB platform in diversified travel scenarios.
July.10th: WeRide has obtained China’s first license to test fully driverless cars on designated open roads in Guangzhou. Founder and CEO, Tony Han said WeRide “will pursue fully driverless technology in the next 2-3 years.” Using a test fleet of over 100 autonomous vehicles the startup obtained 2.6 million kilometers of open road self-driving.
July.15th: Based on China’s Beidou satellite navigation and positioning system, Sixents Technology (六分科技), a high-precision positioning service provider of NavInfo, launched a number of high-precision products. In the era of autonomous driving, the centimeter level real-time dynamic positioning and 24/7 position result is critical, and the output of Sixtents Technology that can match the high-precision map data of NavInfo can provide this required accuracy level.
July.16th: Navistar and TuSimple deepened their two-year relationship, announcing plans to develop and begin producing autonomous semi trucks by 2024. The strategic partnership includes Navistar taking an undisclosed stake in TuSimple. The plan is to develop semi-trucks specifically designed for autonomous operations.
July.17th: Alibaba Cloud announced that it has reached a strategic cooperation with MMI Planning & Engineering Institute IX(cjxjy) to jointly provide intelligent factory solutions for automobile enterprises. According to the report of Capgemini, the penetration rate of intelligent factories in the automotive industry is the highest among all industries, and the investment in smart factories will increase by 60% in the next three years.
July.20th: Xpeng Motors announced the completion of round C+ financing, of nearly US $500 million. Investors include Aspex, Coatue, Hillhood Capital and Sequoia China. The successful completion of this large round shows that the market is optimistic about the prospect of domestic intelligent electric vehicles.
July.21st: Hesai and Velodyne, the two leading LiDAR providers at US and China, announced that the two companies have agreed to dismiss all the current legal proceedings in the U.S. and entered a long-term global cross-licensing relationshipencompassing a broad range of 360°surround-view Lidar sensors. This mutually beneficial relationship covers both existing and future patents of both companies.
July.22nd: AutoX was granted a Driverless Permit by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), making the VDS startup the third company to receive a Driverless Permit in the state of California. The license allows AutoX to test its cars without a safety driver on public roads within a confined testing zone. The permit also allows for testing with passengers, and AutoX plans to focus its operations at San Jose on roads with speed limit of up to 45mph.
Watch AutoX Video here
July.23rd: Plus.ai announced the strategic cooperation with TRC, the largest independent testing agency in North America, toofficially launch the strict autonomous driving performance test program under real road conditions. The project uses the industry’s first Multi-Vehicle test system, and Plus.ai will complete the test and verification of all permitted continental states in the United States by 2021 Q1.
July.27th: Tencent and BMW announced a new digital cooperation that will include integrating Tencent’s WeScenario and WeChat into BMW’s infotainment system. WeScenario is an in-car application tailored for travel scenarios which can be used without download and installation. It supports voice interaction, a function suitable to be used in the driving environment. The in-car WeChat to be introduced to BMW cars supports full voice interaction which can allow users to maintain social communication while driving safely.
July.28th: EQ (易控智驾), a driverless mining-truck company, announced that it had obtained tens of millions of RMB at pre-A round of strategic financing, from MinxiXinghang State-owned Investment. This round of financing will mainly be used to accelerate the production progress of unmanned driving system in an open-pit mine, and to meet the standard of safety and efficiency in mining area, using unmanned operation.
July.30th: Baidu announced that its first global mass-produced autonomous driving computing platform, Apollo Computing Unit (ACU), rolled off the production line during a ceremony at Baidu’s partner Flex’s Suzhou plant. The ACU will be first applied in Apollo Valet Parking product jointly developed by Baidu and Shanghai-based WM Motor. It will also make WM Motor the first carmaker with the mass production of AVP solution.
Sources: Gasgoo; EqualOcean; CX TECH; TechCrunch; Leiphone; Xpeng; HesaiTech; ZDNet; Tencent;
