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A "RoboCal Run" driverless car is driving on Yuehai Street.

The "Lobo Run" driverless car is equipped with a safety officer.

Recently, the driverless online ride-hailing service "LuoBoKuaiPao" has been on the hot search list many times due to the explosive growth in orders in Wuhan City, with a peak of more than 20 orders per vehicle per day, triggering many discussions about driverless online ride-hailing services from the outside world.

On July 16, a reporter from Nanduwan Finance experienced the driverless online car-hailing services of Luobo Kuaipao, Pony.ai and Ruqi Travel in the trial operation area in Nanshan, Shenzhen. In general, the riding experience of the driverless online car-hailing services of the three platforms is basically the same as that of ordinary online car-hailing services, but they all have problems such as sudden braking, the need to get on and off at fixed stops, and long waiting times.

However, all driverless vehicles on all platforms are currently free to ride in Shenzhen. Compared with ordinary online ride-hailing vehicles, driverless vehicles have an absolute price advantage in the operating area. In the future, whether driverless online ride-hailing vehicles will continue to have a price advantage, and whether they will eventually completely replace traditional online ride-hailing vehicles or compete with traditional online ride-hailing vehicles remains to be seen.

　　Test ride on "Carrot Run"1

Starting point: Shenzhen Hi-Tech Park Subway Station - End point: Shenzhen Talent Park

　　The safety officer did not intervene in the control and the brakes shook significantly when the car was forced to cut in.

Recently, Luobo Kuaipao has been frequently searched, and its vehicles can often be seen in the streets and alleys of Nanshan District, Shenzhen. In the operating area of ​​Luobo Kuaipao, Nandu reporters personally experienced its driverless online car-hailing service on July 14 and July 16.

Open the "LuoBoKuaiPao" app, and the blue enclosed area shown on the map is the main scope of its trial operation, mainly distributed in Nanshan District. The system prompts passengers to arrive at the boarding point as early as possible, because parking cannot exceed 3 minutes.

On July 14 (Sunday), the reporter of Nandu selected the starting point and waited for the system to match the vehicle. The page of the Luobo Kuaipao APP showed that there were 20 vehicles waiting ahead. But unexpectedly, after waiting for about 2 hours and the page showed that there was only one more vehicle to wait, the order on the mobile phone was suddenly automatically cancelled by the system without any operation or prompt information, because the order timed out.

This also meant that the two-hour wait was in vain. Learning from this lesson, on July 16, the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter changed his location and started to take a taxi two hours in advance. However, the second taxi attempt also failed, and the order was automatically cancelled by the system after waiting for about two hours. On the third attempt to take a taxi, after waiting for about an hour, a car finally accepted the order.

On July 16, a reporter from Nandu asked the customer service about this situation. The customer service said that due to the limited vehicle resources of Luobo Kuaipao, if there are no idle service vehicles near the pick-up point, the waiting time will be long and the order will be automatically canceled.

Although it is difficult to wait for Carrot Run, the comfort level in the car is better than other platforms, the interior and equipment are newer, and the car is fresh and odor-free. In addition to viewing the route, the operating screen can also adjust the air conditioner, listen to music, watch videos, etc.

During the driving process, the safety officer did not intervene in the vehicle control. On open roads, the vehicle accelerated and there was a noticeable push back, but when encountering bumpy roads or vehicles cutting in, there would be sudden braking and the body of the car would shake significantly.

The test started from Shenzhen Hi-Tech Park Subway Station and ended at Shenzhen Talent Park, covering a total distance of 6.2 kilometers and taking about 21 minutes. In comparison, the self-driving online car-hailing service of Ruqi Travel was faster on the same section of the road, taking only 15 minutes.

　Test ride on "Carrot Run" 2

　　2

Starting point: West side of Tencent Binhai Building - End point: Shenzhen Bay Park Parking Lot No. 8

Safety officer manually intervenes when driving on complex road conditions

On July 17, a reporter from Nandu tried to experience a driverless online car-hailing service in the trial operation area of ​​"LuoBoKuaiPao" in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. According to the mini program information, the operation area of ​​"LuoBoKuaiPao" in Shenzhen includes Nanshan District and Pingshan District, and the operation time is 07:00-23:00 from Monday to Sunday.

At about 4:41 pm on July 17, a reporter from Nandu placed an order to Exit B2 of Baohua Subway Station through the official mini program of Luobo Kuaipao at the South Gate Station of Shenzhen Bay Sports Center. The mini program page then prompted "No idle vehicles nearby" and "The estimated waiting time is long, and the order may be cancelled due to timeout." After confirmation, the order immediately entered the queue "Finding a car" state, and "The estimated waiting time is more than an hour."

However, during the waiting process, the reporter from Nandu noticed that the order queue was not advancing steadily. When it reached the top ten, it suddenly jumped continuously until the order was suddenly cancelled. It was exactly two hours after the order was placed. The reporter from Nandu then called the official customer service of "LuoBoKuaiPao" and learned that it could query the start and end point information of the order, and prompted that there were no idle vehicles nearby, and said that "customer service could not allocate vehicles to take the order."

At around 2:42 pm on July 18, a reporter from Nandu again submitted an order on the official "LuoBoKuaiPao" mini program from the west side of Tencent Binhai Building to Shenzhen Bay Park No. 8 Parking Lot. After a similar two-hour wait, at 4:35 pm, a vehicle finally accepted the order and a corresponding SMS was received. At this time, the mini program page showed that the vehicle that accepted the order was 2.2 kilometers away and it was expected to take 10 minutes to reach the pick-up location.

At about 4:49 pm on July 18, the "RouBoKuaiPao" vehicle arrived at the station on the west side of Tencent Binhai Building. At the same time, the Nandu reporter's mobile phone received a detailed text message notification, including the arrival of the vehicle, license plate number information, door unlocking method, and a reminder that the order will be automatically cancelled if the vehicle is not boarded within the time limit. The reporter then entered the last four digits of the phone number on the touch screen next to the door, and the door unlocked.

Entering the "Robokuaipao" driverless online car-hailing vehicle, the Nandu reporter noticed that there was a safety officer in the main driving position. Except that the co-pilot seat could not be used by passengers, the interior of the vehicle was not much different from that of an ordinary online car-hailing vehicle. The two rear seats were equipped with interactive screens to view current trip information and enjoy audio and video entertainment services. It is worth mentioning that although the sound of radar and other equipment could be vaguely heard outside the vehicle, the environment inside the vehicle remained relatively quiet.

The itinerary information in the car shows that the journey from the west side of Tencent Binhai Building to Shenzhen Bay Park No. 8 is about 6 kilometers, which is expected to take 22 minutes, and will pass through Houhai Avenue, Houhaibin Road and Nanshan Center Road. During the driving process, the reporter of Nandu recorded the maximum speed of the vehicle through the navigation map, reaching 81 kilometers per hour, while the average speed was maintained at about 11 kilometers per hour. Overall, the vehicle's driving was relatively stable, with few sudden acceleration or braking, and the vehicle would choose the lane with better road conditions when driving.

However, when passing through some complex sections, Nandu reporters found that the vehicle still needed the intervention of the safety officer. For example, when the vehicle automatically stopped at the station on the west side of Tencent Binhai Building, the safety officer was required to manually adjust the distance between the vehicle and the roadside green belt to leave enough space for getting on and off. When turning around to enter the main road of Houhai Avenue, the vehicle encountered heavy traffic and could not complete the turn automatically, so the safety officer made a large-scale U-turn.

In addition, when passing through sections with more complicated road conditions, the vehicle will automatically take emergency braking and other actions when encountering pedestrians or electric bicycles on the roadside. At this time, the safety officer will also intervene accordingly to adjust the time and speed of the vehicle's passage.

At about 5:18 pm that day, the Nandu reporter arrived at the destination smoothly. The payment page of the trip popped up on the "LuoBoKuaiPao" applet showed that the fee for this trip was 0 yuan. The fee details showed that the starting mileage was 1.5 kilometers, the billing mileage was 3.9 kilometers, the duration of this trip was 22 minutes, and the activity deduction was 41.55 yuan.

　Test rides on Pony.ai and Ruqi Travel

The operation screen has no interactive functions such as music

Ruqi will honk the horn when traveling to remind other vehicles to give way

On July 16, Nandu reporters took a test ride on Pony.ai and Ruqi. Compared with Carousel, the waiting time for Pony.ai and Ruqi on the same road section is shorter, about 20-30 minutes on average. For passengers who are not in a hurry and want to experience driverless cars for free, it is a better choice.

However, compared with Luobo Kuaipao, the vehicles of Pony.ai and Ruqi Travel are older, the operating screens inside the cars do not have interactive functions such as music and air conditioning adjustment, and the interface is not aesthetically pleasing.

However, when encountering special situations during driving, the reporter saw that the self-driving car of Ruqi Travel would automatically honk to remind vehicles and pedestrians to give way. The safety officer of Ruqi Travel told the reporter that in addition to actively honking the horn, the vehicle can also actively identify the traffic police. "I have encountered traffic police myself, and this car can recognize the traffic police and move according to the traffic police's instructions."

In addition, recently, the car has been frequently searched, which quickly triggered discussions about driverless cars online. Some people pointed out that driverless cars are taking away the jobs of taxi and online car-hailing drivers? Is it possible for online car-hailing drivers to switch to safety officers in the future?

A safety officer at Ruqi Travel told reporters that he had been working as a safety officer for about half a year after switching from a job related to drone automation. "The safety officer's job is to work in two shifts, and the hours are relatively flexible."

However, the traffic brought by Luobo Kuaipao recently has also made driverless online ride-hailing popular. Pony.ai's safety officer told reporters that he has received significantly more orders recently than before. "Recently, there have been a lot of orders. From 8 am to 3 pm, we can receive at least 10 orders. Many passengers have to queue up to get a ride."

In addition, in terms of safety, the three platforms have not encountered any safety issues during driving. If the seat belt is loose during driving, a reminder to fasten the seat belt will immediately appear on the screen. In this regard, Pony.ai and Ruqi Travel do not have any reminders. Only the safety officer will give a verbal reminder after discovering that the seat belt is loose.

Overall, autonomous driving is a cost-effective and worthwhile experience if you are not in a hurry. However, despite its price advantage, it still has many inconveniences as a daily travel method at this stage.

　　progress

Autonomous driving related companies rank first in the country

Self-driving buses to start running at the end of the month

Judging from the current development of driverless online ride-hailing in China, Wuhan is the eye of the storm, while Shenzhen is the base camp. Many driverless online ride-hailing platforms have chosen to land in Shenzhen to explore commercialization paths.

Public data shows that there are more than 12,000 autonomous driving-related companies in my country, with Shenzhen ranking first with more than 1,300 companies. From upstream perception, decision-making, execution, and communication systems to midstream autonomous driving solution providers, and then to downstream testing, evaluation, and travel services, a large number of autonomous driving high-tech companies such as RoboSense, LeiShen Intelligent, Hangsheng Electronics, Yuanrong Qixing, Baidu, Pony.ai, and WeRide have gathered in Shenzhen.

Shenzhen has also actively introduced policies to support the development of autonomous driving. In July 2022, Shenzhen also issued the "Regulations on the Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicles in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which is the first unmanned vehicle regulation in China. The "Regulations" specifically stipulates the definition of autonomous driving of intelligent connected vehicles, market access rules, road rights, and rights and responsibilities, filling the commercial pain points caused by the gaps in laws and regulations, and expanding space for Shenzhen to develop intelligent connected vehicles.

In July 2023, Shenzhen issued the country's first L3 expressway test license plate; in August of the same year, Shenzhen released the country's first set of local standards for intelligent connected vehicle products, providing strong support for local access to intelligent connected vehicles.

According to a relevant person in charge of the Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau, as of May 2024, Shenzhen has opened a total of 944 kilometers of test demonstration roads, and has issued 1,037 road test and demonstration application notices to 349 smart connected vehicles from 19 companies; compared with the end of 2023, the mileage of open roads has increased by 12.65% and the number of license plates has increased by 48.14%.

In June this year, Xu Wei, member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the Shenzhen Municipal Transportation Bureau, said at the 2024 Global Intelligent Connected Vehicle Commercialization Innovation Forum that Shenzhen will take intelligent connected vehicles and functional unmanned vehicles as the starting point, aiming at the "six firsts", comprehensively building the most open city in the country for autonomous driving, and supporting Shenzhen to carry out full-scenario and full-model technology applications. This includes building the country's first benchmark city for full city openness, promoting true full city openness, and fully opening more than 8,000 kilometers of roads to all models.

As of now, Shenzhen has 944 kilometers of open roads for autonomous driving, including 67 kilometers of expressways, and has initially realized the normalization of functional unmanned vehicles and diversified scenario operation pilots. Taking Shenzhen Pingshan District as an example, nearly 40 unmanned delivery vehicle demonstration routes have been opened, and 46 unmanned delivery vehicles have been approved to go on the road to carry out urban delivery services.

On July 14, Shenzhen Bus Group also announced that it plans to launch 20 self-driving buses in Qianhai, Shenzhen by 2024. The operation scenarios will cover subway stations, business districts, residential areas, central business districts, industrial parks, cultural and tourism scenic spots, etc. The first self-driving bus line, Line B998, is expected to be officially launched at the end of July.

Coordinator: Nandu reporter Zhang Yanli

Written by: Nandu reporters Tan Shilin, Zhang Yanli, Yan Zhaoxin, Cheng Yang

Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Zhao Yanxiong