● Our reporter Zhang Xingwang and Jin Yidan
Shenzhen still had a strong sense of warmth in early December, and there was a lot of traffic on the street downstairs from the DJI headquarters of Vishay Software Technology Park. “In the future, autonomous driving will become the standard equipment of cars like car lights and rearview mirrors.” Xie Tiandi, head of DJI’s automotive market, told a reporter from China Securities News that the autonomous driving industry is still a blue ocean, and more commercialization is needed. Scenes.
A few days ago, the country’s first pilot program for commercialization of autonomous driving travel services was implemented in Beijing. Autonomous driving will usher in a trillion-dollar track. The wide track attracts the influx of technology companies such as Huawei, Baidu, DJI, and SenseTime.
The rapid development of autonomous driving
In Beijing Yizhuang Economic Development Zone, a reporter from China Securities Journal recently experienced autonomous driving travel services. The reporter clicked on the driverless service software on the mobile phone, entered the destination and placed an order, and chose the station closest to him to wait. “I am not a driver, but a safety officer.” Master Wang, who was sitting in the driving seat, said that he would only intervene in taking over the vehicle in an emergency.
Master Wang has been a taxi driver for 11 years. “Auto-driving taxis can save the cost of the driver. When the technology is mature, even the safety officer is not needed.” Master Wang said, “The job of the safety officer is much easier. It is not as highly stressed as the driver, and the vehicle routes are all The automatic planning is done.” The reporter found that Robotaxi (self-driving taxi) was driving at a steady speed in the urban area and rarely changed lanes to overtake. When encountering complicated road conditions with pedestrians, Robotaxi’s sensing system is sensitive and decelerates and brakes in time.
On November 25, the “Detailed Rules for the Implementation of the Pilot Management of the Commercialization of Autonomous Driving Travel Services in the Priority Zone of Beijing’s Intelligent Connected Vehicles Policy (Trial)” was released, and Baidu and Xiaoma Zhixing became the first batch of enterprises permitted to carry out the commercialization of pilot services. The country’s first commercialization pilot of autonomous driving travel services was implemented in Beijing, marking that domestic autonomous driving has moved from a test demonstration to a commercial pilot, and autonomous driving has officially entered the “second half”.
Autonomous driving is usually divided into 5 levels, from assisted driving, conditional automation to complete automation.
Technological progress promotes the rapid development of the autonomous driving industry. Guosheng Securities believes that many auto OEMs and Tier1 manufacturers (first-tier suppliers) are accelerating their move toward autonomous driving, but the L4 level is difficult to commercialize on a large scale in the short term. Start-up companies strengthen cooperation with auto companies, cover extreme scenarios through continuous data accumulation, train autonomous driving systems and algorithms, and promote product iteration. CICC pointed out that the new forces are actively promoting full-stack self-research, and traditional auto companies often achieve complementary advantages through cooperation. For new forces that do not have an advantage in “car building”, research and development capabilities are an important support for them to stand out. They can independently complete the development of the entire process of autonomous driving perception and decision-making algorithms, vehicle control strategies, underlying systems, and testing. .
The autonomous driving track is wide and the market is large, attracting many companies to join. A reporter from China Securities News learned that SAIC-GM-Wuling’s intelligent driving solution products provided by DJI Vehicles will soon be mass-produced and launched. Volkswagen China is also cooperating with DJI to develop advanced driver assistance functions.
AutoX is an autonomous driving research and development service provider, and recently signed a contract with Shenzhen Pingshan District to promote the large-scale implementation of Robotaxi unmanned driving. Xiao Jianxiong, founder and CEO of AutoX, told the China Securities Journal: “The company entered this track mainly because of the huge user base and strong demand in this market. Changes in travel methods will have a huge impact.”
According to data from Tianyan Check, there are currently more than 5,800 companies in my country whose business scope includes “autonomous driving, intelligent driving, and unmanned driving.” Since the beginning of this year, more than 1,000 new related companies have been registered.
According to the HIS report, the global autonomous driving market is expected to reach US$162.9 billion by 2022, a year-on-year increase of about 14%. China’s autonomous driving market is growing faster, with a growth rate of approximately 24% in 2022.
Yuan Rong Qixing is an autonomous driving startup in Shenzhen established in 2019. In September this year, the company completed a US$300 million Series B financing led by Alibaba. Zhou Guang, CEO of Yuan Rong Qixing, told a reporter from China Securities Journal: “Autonomous driving technology has a high threshold and requires top talents. At present, talents in the industry are limited and it is difficult to support the development of a large number of companies.”
Tech giants have entered
Since 2021, mainstream car companies have accelerated the development and implementation of high-level intelligent driving, and technology giants have entered the market. Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, GAC, and Great Wall have launched smart models with pilot assistance systems (with L4 functions), equipped with various sensors, high computing power chips and upgradeable computing platforms, which can realize autonomous driving in cities and highways . There are signs that Apple is developing the self-driving car Apple Car. Deloitte pointed out that the degree of intelligence has become a core indicator for consumers to judge the attractiveness of new energy vehicles.
Huawei accelerates the development of its smart car parts business. Huawei’s rotating chairman Xu Zhijun said in May this year: “For smart driving, Huawei and partners have two cooperation modes. One is the Huawei Inside mode, which provides smart driving full-stack solutions including smart driving applications, computing platforms, and sensors. Solution. The other is platform mode. Huawei provides MDC intelligent driving computing platform, which mainly includes hardware based on Ascend SoC, autonomous driving operating system AOS and vehicle control operating system VOS, as well as AutoSAR middleware. The MDC platform connects partners’ sensors and Actuator, supporting partners to develop intelligent driving software.”
At present, Huawei’s R&D team for smart auto parts business has more than 5,000 people, of which more than 2,000 are autonomous driving R&D personnel. It is understood that Huawei, BAIC, Changan, and GAC have chosen the Huawei Inside cooperation model. In addition, Huawei is also helping Xiaokang Cyrus build and sell cars.
In the field of autonomous driving, many technology companies have different positioning. Xie Tiandi told a reporter from the China Securities Journal: “DJI is positioned as tier1, a supplier of software and hardware. To achieve an “experienced” autonomous driving, it is necessary to overcome the “four mountains”, which are sensors, algorithms, and computing. Power, data. DJI will comprehensively consider these factors to provide automakers with practical and affordable autonomous driving solutions.”
Shi Jianping, vice president of intelligent driving of SenseTime’s intelligent business group, told a reporter from China Securities News: “There are more automakers and more brands. Some automakers may be reluctant to choose a full-stack solution. SenseTime’s strengths are AI algorithms, including automatic The perception algorithm of the driving system. We directly connect with the car factory, as the software tier1, and integrate with the hardware tier1.”
“Automotive companies are the protagonist to promote the development of autonomous driving, but the ideas of how to land are different. If technology companies empower auto companies, I think there may be more cases of’holding the thigh’. DJI hopes to deepen with like-minded customers Cooperate and grow together.” Xie Tian said bluntly.
How far is the road to commercialization
The intelligentization of passenger cars is the main way for the commercialization of autonomous driving. The commercialization of Xiaopeng Automobile’s assisted driving system continues to accelerate. Xiaopeng Motors mentioned in the prospectus that it provides customers with the self-developed advanced autopilot system XPILOT 3.0 software in the form of a paid service. As of March 31, 2021, more than 20% of P7 owners have purchased and activated this feature.
Autonomous driving travel services are currently only entering the commercial pilot stage. The relevant person in charge of Xiaoma Zhixing said that the issuance of the pilot qualification for the commercialization of autonomous driving travel services in Beijing is a milestone, which means that the autonomous driving service has moved from a test demonstration to a commercial demonstration.
Zhou Guang told a reporter from China Securities News: “Autonomous driving has not yet been commercialized on a large scale. In addition to technical factors, another reason is that the cost is too high.”
According to IHS Markit data, the Robotaxi market is expected to exceed 1.3 trillion yuan in 2030. According to a report issued by the International Data (Asia) Group, China has the potential to become the world‘s largest autonomous vehicle market. The cost of autonomous driving systems including sensors, computing platforms and software will drop rapidly after 2023. Robotaxi is expected to be in 2025. It will reach a commercial turning point between 2010 and 2027.
Many people interviewed by a reporter from China Securities News believe that the large-scale commercialization of autonomous driving also involves issues of laws, regulations, and ethics. Autonomous driving requires long-term verification of more driving mileage to achieve reliability far beyond that of human drivers. “The current autonomous driving models are still’man-machine co-driving’, which is only a small-scale commercial pilot. There is still a long way to go before the large-scale commercialization of L4 autonomous driving.” Shi Jianping believes.Return to Sohu to see more
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