DeepRoute.ai Completes Driverless Test of Production-Ready Autonomous Driving Solution

DeepRoute.ai, an autonomous driving technology company, announced on August 1 the results of the latest fully-driverless test of its Driver 2.0 L4 production-ready autonomous driving solution.

DeepRoute.ai released a video exhibiting a driverless vehicle retrofitted with the company’s production-ready L4 solution on the Central Business District roads of Shenzhen, demonstrating its capacity in complex and challenging traffic environments. This marks the first legalized driverless test in China as Shenzhen unveiled the country’s first regulation on intelligent connected vehicles on July 6.

The fully driverless vehicle drove just under 14 miles in one hour, safely navigating through significant traffic and narrow lanes. The vehicle maneuvered around double-parked cars, counterflow e-scooters and pedestrians, negotiated with oncoming vehicles to calculate the right timing and trajectory to pass busy intersections and conducted multiple lane changes while also dealing with unprotected left turns.

“The recent legislation permitting driverless Robotaxis in Shenzhen is the first of its kind, a major milestone in advancing autonomous driving technology to wider and faster adoption,” said Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute.ai. “We will collaborate with automakers to refine our L4 solution to make it as safe and efficient as possible.”

DeepRoute.ai has made significant improvements to achieve driverless capability, with both software and hardware that meet auto-grade standards.

The driverless vehicle is equipped with Driver 2.0, a production-ready L4 solution that includes five solid-state LiDARs, eight cameras and other sensors, and a computing platform integrated with its proprietary inference engine. The perception algorithm with sensor fusion can achieve precise object detection up to nearly 220 yards.

With its deep learning approach, the inference engine optimizes compute resources, allowing the algorithm to run on its low-cost and power-efficient computing platform effectively and stably. As a result, Driver 2.0 will be priced at $3,000 for automakers in mass production and the algorithm can work with two to five solid-state LiDARs for automakers customization needs.

The latest legal and regulatory framework is aligned with the autonomous driving industry’s developments and is deemed the prelude to the mass production and commercialization of autonomous driving vehicles.

China’s first regulation on intelligently-connected vehicles released by the Shenzhen government will be carried out on August 1. The regulation stipulates the need for the registration of smart connected vehicles and their use on the road, and defines the identification of liability in traffic accidents caused by autonomous driving.

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If there is a driver in the self-driving car, the driver will be held responsible. If the car is completely driverless, the owner will be held responsible. If an accident is caused by a defect in the vehicle, the owner can seek compensation from the vehicle manufacturer.

Autonomous driving has rapidly developed in China in recent years. Shenzhen has noted that it expected the revenue of the smart car industry to reach 200 billion yuan ($29.62 billion) by 2025.