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Autonomous driving, intelligent companionship

Morning Post reporter Kong Weihao

(Grade 8, Shanghai Tongda Experimental School)

In May 2024, the "Carrot Run" driverless car was put into operation in Wuhan and other cities. The Internet immediately exploded, and the "pro" and "anti" factions were fighting. This made me interested in and confused about driverless technology. One day in August, I followed the Xinwen Morning Post student reporter group to the Pony.ai autonomous driving R&D center in Jiading District to find out.

As soon as I walked through the gate, the first thing that caught my eye was a huge company logo, with a uniquely shaped "test car" parked below. A white box on top of it that looked like a "glove box" instantly aroused my curiosity. What was it used for? With this question in mind, I boarded a Pony.ai self-driving car and officially started today's self-driving journey.

As the vehicle drove out of the R&D center gate and onto the city road, my eyes were fixed on the driver's seat. Something incredible happened, the steering wheel of the vehicle actually moved by itself. While driving smoothly, road safety was also done very well. When passing a bus stop, the front of our car had not passed yet, but the bus next to it suddenly started. I was so panicked that I almost jumped out of my seat sitting in the back row, but at this moment, the self-driving car immediately turned on the brake lights and completed the emergency stop autonomously, avoiding the accident. Later, I heard from the engineer that Pony.ai's self-driving vehicles have not had a single active safety accident so far! This amazed me.

There are two display screens in front of the back seat of the car. When turned on, they can display real-time positioning. It shows our subsequent journey in sections, and can also broadcast the driving speed and road conditions ahead. Not only that, it can also display various vehicles driving or parked nearby sensed by the sensor, basically achieving accurate identification and taking avoidance measures. In addition, you can listen to music and learn about Pony.ai's corporate information in the car. The screens on both sides cannot play music at the same time. Is this because they are afraid that the sound on both sides will be too noisy? I enjoyed the music all the way and appreciated the series of "silky" operations of the autonomous driving system, with sincere admiration and praise in my heart.

After a while, we returned to the R&D center. I calculated that the vehicle took about 20 minutes to cover six or seven kilometers, which was a reasonable speed, which further increased my favorable impression of autonomous driving technology.

The engineer explained that the "white box" on the roof is actually a laser radar and camera, which, together with multiple radars and cameras in other parts of the car, monitors the car's movements around it and reports them to the car's "brain", which then analyzes and designs solutions until they are implemented. My doubts were finally answered.

Autonomous driving, accompanied by intelligence, will inevitably bring a new era of travel to mankind!

From the past to the future——Reflections on a one-day trip to Jiading Auto City

Morning Post reporter Dai Siyi

(Grade 4, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Experimental School)

Today, with excitement, I went to Jiading with the young reporters from the Morning Post Student Reporter Group for an impressive visit.

I have heard of the famous Shanghai Automobile Museum for a long time, so today's first stop is here. In addition to various antique cars and classic cars, the museum also displays modern cars with cool shapes. Some of them are small and exquisite, some are super long; some are plain, some are luxurious and gorgeous, some look like beetles, and some look like armored warriors of the future...

If the Automobile Museum tells the history of automobiles, then the Pony.ai tour in the afternoon shows us what the future of automobile driving will look like.

As you step into Pony.ai's R&D center, a fully armed self-driving vehicle comes into view: the laser radar installed on the body of the vehicle is responsible for observing the situation around the vehicle and filling in blind spots; there is also a high-definition camera on the roof to identify traffic lights and record the vehicle's driving conditions throughout the entire process.

The most surprising part of the day was experiencing L4 level autonomous driving. We got on a real autonomous car and experienced "technology and hard work". Although there was no driver operation throughout the whole process, the vehicle drove very steadily and calmly dealt with complex road conditions. Dad asked me, is the autonomous driving better or is Dad's driving skills better? I honestly said: autonomous driving is more comfortable.

The one-day visit and study allowed me to appreciate the development and changes of the automobile industry from ancient times to the present. On the way back, I was extremely excited, and the picture of future urban transportation emerged in my mind: new technology has completely changed today's road conditions. I took an unmanned flying taxi to the train station to take a supersonic train to travel around the world.

The past, present and future of cars

Morning Post reporter Zhou Ruiyang

(Seventh grade, Shanghai Kant Bilingual Experimental School)

I have been a car fan since I was a child. What I enjoy most on the road is watching the cars coming and going. I have also trained myself to recognize the model and engine of a car as soon as I see its body. When I heard that there was an opportunity to visit the Shanghai Automobile Museum and experience autonomous driving, I signed up without hesitation.

The collections in the Shanghai Automobile Museum are indeed comprehensive, with various types of models, many of which are the first time for me, a car fan, to see. Among them, the most impressive one is the Volkswagen "Beetle". In the context of World War II, the design of such a unique model can be said to have created a new era of car models. There are also several antique models in the collection, including the first Phoenix brand car in Shanghai, the first Shanghai brand car, Santana series, Mercedes-Benz SLS, Ferrari TESTAROSSA, Lamborghini Hurricane and Alfa Romeo G TV4.

However, no matter how the appearance and performance of traditional cars change, they all use gasoline as fuel. With the increase in the number of cars, the emission of automobile exhaust is also increasing year by year, which has caused a great burden on the earth. Therefore, people began to explore new energy vehicles. After the visit, we tried to make a solar car model. There is a solar panel on the roof of the car. We put it under the sun and it runs by itself! If our cars can be like it, we can truly achieve zero pollution.

In addition to the use of new energy, the future cars that are worth looking forward to are also capable of autonomous driving.

After leaving the Shanghai Auto Museum, we went to Pony.ai to experience autonomous driving. We got in the car, and the safety officer just pressed a button and the car started. During the whole driving process, the safety officer never touched the steering wheel, nor stepped on the accelerator or brake. He just sat in the driving seat as easily as us. The vehicle drove very smoothly, just like sitting in the living room at home.

After the experience, an engineer introduced the principle of autonomous driving to us: autonomous driving vehicles have no driver and seem to have no brain, but in fact, the car itself is the brain. Lidar, millimeter-wave radar and cameras are installed on the roof and around the car. They are like human eyes. They survey the road surface to understand how many cars and pedestrians are within 200 meters on the lane, and transmit the observed information to the "brain" in the trunk of the car, which processes the data through algorithms and directs the vehicle to make appropriate responses.

This learning journey allowed me to see the past and present of cars, and I am looking forward to the future of cars. Perhaps in the near future, all the cars on the road will be driverless cars. By then, our current manually driven fuel cars may only be seen in car museums.

Amazing car tour

Morning Post reporter Zhang Yuankun

(Grade 3, Shanghai Shiwai Primary School)

Early in the morning of August 7, I put on my backpack, boarded the bus, and started a wonderful one-day car journey.

At the Shanghai Automobile Museum, I saw the history of vehicle development. From the initial one-wheeled vehicle, which could only carry goods but not people, to the two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage, which was used by nobles during the Warring States Period or as a chariot on the battlefield, to bicycles and steam cars. In the 1950s and 1960s, cars all used fuel engines, which were more powerful and faster. Interestingly, the fuel ports of cars are usually on both sides, but some cars in the museum are refueled in the trunk.

Cars have brought great convenience to our lives, but they have also created new problems. In the theme class after the visit, the teacher showed a world energy table. It is predicted that the world's oil will be used up in 40 years, coal will be used up in 240 years, and natural gas can only be used for 52 years, so people have to use new energy to replace these non-renewable energy sources. Otherwise, our cars will not be able to operate normally in a while.

In addition to hydrogen, new energy sources include tidal energy, wind energy, water energy, and solar energy. We tried to assemble a solar car. When I saw my solar car slowly running under the sun, I was very excited and imagined what the cars of the future would look like.

Finally, we arrived at Pony.ai's autonomous driving R&D center. There, I saw that autonomous driving cars have many more components than ordinary cars, including lidar, high-definition cameras, millimeter-wave radars... Currently, autonomous driving cars are divided into six levels. L4 autonomous driving vehicles can achieve highly autonomous driving, while at L5 level, cars can achieve fully autonomous driving.

We experienced Pony.ai's L4 autonomous driving vehicle. The vehicle drove on the streets of Jiading District and automatically stopped at red lights, went at green lights, changed lanes to overtake, avoided pedestrians, etc. according to the road conditions. It was very stable and there was no bump at all. I am looking forward to higher levels of autonomous driving. By then, will the vehicle be able to refuel or charge itself?

On this day, I looked at the past and present of cars, and couldn't help but imagine the future of cars - using clean, inexhaustible solar energy, completely unmanned driving, passengers enjoying various entertainment facilities in the car, and easily going anywhere...