Alibaba Backed AutoX Achieves True Driverless Robot Taxi Service In China

While Google's Waymo has been credited with inventing the concept of the self-driving car, a lot of progress has been made in China. It can be argued that a lot of progress is being made in China. AutoX which is backed by Alibaba is arguably the most advanced self-driving startup, and now it has hit another milestone. It has become the first service of its kind to deploy a truly driverless robot taxi service that doesn't have any safety drivers. AutoX has deployed its fifth-generation system which Dr Jianxiong Xiao, the CEO of AutoX revealed to the Chinese media and claimed was superior to the competition. 

He revealed that it uses a combination of 50 sensors in total which work in tandem with an overall 2200 teraflops of computing power. The system also has 28 cameras capturing a total of 220 million pixels per second coupled with six high-resolution LiDARs offering an additional 15 million points per second. If this wasn't enough, it even has a 4D Radar with a 0.9-degree resolution encompassing 360 degrees around the vehicle for complete spatial awareness. 

The cameras and LiDAR work in tandem to detect blindspots which means the new fifth-generation system has zero blindspots. AutoX says its system has the world's best sensor resolution which isn't in doubt considering the amount of hardware and computational capability on tap. But still, this is a level 4 autonomous system. 

The Alibaba backed self-driving company has a perfect safety record since having no safety drivers

"Gen5 enables AutoX RoboTaxis to drive safely on China's complex urban streets by detecting occluded delivery scooters behind vehicles from several hundreds of meters away. The system's higher
resolution sensing capability also enables RoboTaxis to drive at higher speeds safely, extending the Operational Design Domain of AutoX's driverless RoboTaxi fleet," says AutoX in a press statement. 

"The AutoX Gen5 system is built with Electrical/Electronic Architecture that satisfies global functional safety standards. The Gen5 production process is established with strict supplier management and quality control on a modular and vehicle level. Before going on the dedicated assembly line, components go through rigorous automotive-grade testing," the autonomous driving company reveals talking about the safety standards at play. 

AutoX revealed that in 6 months of operations, it has a perfect safety record after the service was launched in January without safety drivers. Now the system is being upgraded with its latest fifth-generation system. 

"Safety is our number one priority and it has to be built on a reliable foundation. Gen5 was created for fully driverless RoboTaxis in urban cities and is designed for the safety of our users and everyone on the road," said Dr Xiao.