China’s Real Self-driving Taxi Begins Test, Traditional Taxi Drivers Fear Job Losses

China’s self-driving technology has made significant progress in the field of B2C (business-to-consumer business model) driverless taxis. While Tesla and Waymo are considered the frontrunners in self-driving technology, China’s Pony.ai self-driving taxis have been operating for some time on roads in cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen.

China’s autonomous driving technology is mainly based on multi-sensor fusion technology. The top of the vehicle is equipped with laser radar, video cameras and other equipment for environmental detection.

Passengers who are over 18 years old only need to set the destination and call the vehicle through the taxi app. When the vehicle arrives at the waiting place designated by the passenger, the passenger can operate through the buttons on the screen after entering the vehicle.

Then press the “Start” button on the internal tablet to start the journey. When the vehicle is driving, it will also display the detected pedestrian and vehicle conditions on the road in real time.

Pony.ai’s self-driving taxis have reached a very high level of safety, claiming that there have been no accidents caused by system problems so far.

However, the system still has a control center, which can monitor the vehicle status in real time and switch the remote operation mode when necessary. Since the driverless taxis are still in the trial operation stage, the starting fee is effectively free.


At the same time, Pony.ai also launched the “PonyPilot+” service, allowing passengers in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, California, and other places to experience unmanned self-driving taxis. China’s unmanned self-driving taxis have developed very advanced and are expected to be put into service in the near future.

However, if unmanned taxis are popularized in the future, the income of traditional taxi drivers will be affected, and related impacts and issues will also become challenges to be faced.

[SOURCE]