Didi Chuxing announced plans to launch robotaxi services in Shanghai where users will be able to hail driverless cars from the app.
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing’s founder and chief executive officer Cheng Wei (程维) said at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2019 on August 29 that the company would accelerate testing of autonomous vehicles with passengers in Shanghai.
According to Didi’s chief technology officer Zhang Bo (张博), the ride-hailing company will deploy 30 different models of “level four” autonomous vehicles in the Jiading district of Shanghai. Robotaxi services will be launched as soon as tests are completed. “It will be very soon,” said Zhang Bo.
When it comes to Didi’s artificial intelligence development, Cheng Wei said the company would mainly apply the cutting-edge technology to ride-hailing security issue, and further propel self-driving technology to daily life.
The company’s autonomous vehicle fleet first opened to the public for test driving at the conference.
Although it has successfully connected self-driving vehicles with ride-hailing scenarios within its test area in Shanghai before the conference (here for details), the company did not reveal a timeline for launching the pilot project.