Every week, Mo Luyi, Vice President of Xiaoma Zhixing and Head of Guangzhou Shenzhen R&D Center, shuttles between the offices in Nansha, Guangzhou and Qianhai, Shenzhen due to work needs. After Xiaoma Zhixing Robotaxi was approved for commercial operation pilot in both places, she couldn't help but wonder: Can she ride her own Robotaxi back and forth between Nansha and Qianhai?
In the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, reality has appeared in front of Mo Luyi in a way far beyond expectations.
On December 27th, the Executive Committee of Hengqin Guangdong Macao Deep Cooperation Zone, the Management Bureau of Qianhai Shenzhen Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone in Shenzhen, the People's Government of Nansha District in Guangzhou, and the People's Government of Bao'an District in Shenzhen jointly signed a framework agreement for mutual recognition and cooperation of intelligent connected vehicle demonstration applications, exploring the construction of a qualification system for cross regional mutual recognition, a road system for cross regional opening, and a regulatory system for cross regional collaboration, and jointly promoting the development level of the intelligent connected vehicle industry in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.
Although the pilot work related to intelligent connected vehicles has been promoted in more than 50 provinces and cities in China, cross regional pilot mutual recognition has just begun. On the basis of mutual recognition of qualifications, Hengqin, Qianhai, Nansha, and Bao'an will also promote road connectivity and regulatory coordination, which is the first exploration in China.
It can be expected that the pilot enterprises related to intelligent connected vehicles currently scattered in four locations will "unlock" other mutually recognized pilot areas more quickly. The four regions will also achieve a new team of "single player" players, supporting the accelerated development of the intelligent connected vehicle industry and the construction of "vehicle road cloud integration".
What excites the industry even more is that the pace of interconnectivity in the Greater Bay Area is also accelerating. Since the beginning of this year, key transportation projects such as the Shenzhen Zhongshan Expressway, the Nansha Connection Line connecting the Shenzhen Zhongshan Expressway and the South China Expressway, and the Huangmaohai Cross Sea Passage have been opened to traffic, providing more space for long-distance testing and operation of intelligent connected vehicle expressways. In the accessible future, unmanned taxis, buses, and unmanned vehicles will accelerate their crossing of the sea and rivers in the Greater Bay Area.
Robotaxi accelerates the pace of large-scale commercialization
Under the guidance of intensive national policies, the "trend" of China's automobile industry has shifted from electrification to intelligence.
According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of September, a total of 17 national level testing demonstration zones, 7 vehicle networking pilot zones, and 16 pilot cities for the coordinated development of smart cities and intelligent connected vehicles have been established nationwide. More than 50 provinces and cities have issued supporting documents for road testing and demonstration applications, and issued over 7700 testing demonstration licenses.
Pilot cities are blooming in multiple locations, but for pilot enterprises, entering each city and testing each vehicle model involves a certain amount of verification time. As early as 2019, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui initiated mutual recognition cooperation for intelligent connected vehicle road testing. In recent years, the mutual recognition mechanism for road testing has been gradually applied in various regions, with the aim of reducing some repetitive tests and lowering the time and testing costs of enterprises.
Xiaoma Zhixing went public in the United States on November 27th this year, and whether Robotaxi business can truly achieve commercialization has become the focus of investors' attention. Scaling has become a recognized commercial solution in the industry. Mo Luyi recently told the media that the commercialization of Robotaxi must achieve scale, and the operating fleet must increase from a hundred vehicles to a thousand vehicles.
Xiaoma Zhixing launched Robotaxi service at the end of 2018 and has obtained commercial operation licenses in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Among them, Nansha in Guangzhou has achieved full area operation of about 800 square kilometers, and the total operation area in Bao'an and Qianhai in Shenzhen is nearly 100 square kilometers, with a total of nearly 3000 stations laid out. Next, residents of Nansha, Guangzhou can use Robotaxi to travel to Shenzhen Airport, "said Huang Kailin, Deputy General Manager of Xiaoma Zhixing Guangshen R&D Center, at the signing ceremony. The company will actively promote mutual recognition of vehicle operations, focus on expanding cross city airport and high-speed rail passenger transportation, as well as heavy cargo logistics. It is hoped that through government promotion and scene expansion, operational efficiency will be further improved, and more diverse products will be provided to meet residents' travel and logistics service needs, achieving the extension of the intelligent automotive industry chain.
Sun Lei, Vice President of Ruqi Travel, believes that this mutual recognition cooperation has laid a policy foundation for enterprises to accelerate the iteration of autonomous driving technology, promote the commercialization and scale of autonomous driving. Several of the first pilot enterprises have stated that the "three systems and one improvement" cooperation mechanism in the four regions of the Greater Bay Area will not only help enterprises quickly expand their operating areas, but also improve the efficiency of vehicle transportation and long-distance testing through the interconnection of open roads in different places, which will enhance the ability of enterprises to operate commercially.
It is worth noting that four enterprises, Xiaoma Zhixing, Ruqi Chuxing, Kuwa Technology and Apollo Go, have been awarded the first batch of mutual recognition pilot enterprises, all of which are L4 track enterprises. Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at Huanghe University of Science and Technology, explained in an interview with Southern Finance and Economics reporters that "the integration of vehicle, road and cloud can be promoted in two main directions: Robotaxi and private cars. Robotaxi is more closely connected to government data, while private cars are promoted in the same way as various car companies, and even many private cars are connected to the internet. The integration of vehicle, road, and cloud requires a sufficient number of vehicles to verify the feasibility of intelligent networking, so the government supports Robotaxi to take the lead. After the technology is verified and mature, relevant standards and protocols will be transplanted to private cars
Ruqi Travel, a subsidiary of GAC Group, is also representing a new model of cross-border cooperation among OEMs to enter the L4 track. By using the customized GAC Toyota Senna Autono Maas (S-AM) and equipped with the Xiaoma Intelligent Driving software and hardware system, Ruqi Travel has greatly accelerated its market pace.
We will also accelerate the production of Robotaxi models in cooperation with car companies such as BAIC and GAC. In the early stage, the manufacturer's production platform, especially the chassis design, was not so suitable for autonomous driving. Now, a new model takes about six months to complete, and it can basically complete the full adaptation of a model, including completing all testing and verification, and obtaining license plates, "said Mo Luyi.
The pilot cities in the Greater Bay Area have formed a 'dream team'
In the second half of this year, "vehicle road cloud integration" has become a new infrastructure field that local governments are investing heavily in.
Zhang Xiang noticed that the bidding amount for the "Vehicle Road Cloud Integration" project released in Wuhan reached 17 billion yuan, while the bidding amount for related projects in Beijing was close to 10 billion yuan. The current field of intelligent networking is still a project with a long investment return cycle. Local governments still need to create a rich ecosystem to attract science and technology innovation enterprises and talents with growth potential, and drive local employment, "said Zhang Xiang.
In July of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments released the list of pilot cities for the "vehicle road cloud integration" application of intelligent connected vehicles. The first batch consists of 20 cities (consortia), namely Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Ordos, Shenyang, Changchun, Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Hangzhou Tongxiang Deqing consortium, Hefei, Fuzhou, Jinan, Wuhan, Shiyan, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Haikou Sanya Qionghai consortium, and Chengdu.
CCID Forward Industry Research Institute predicts that the market size of vehicle road cloud integration is expected to exceed 5 trillion yuan by 2030, and the related market size of "vehicle road cloud integration" is expected to exceed 14 trillion yuan, which has become a direction that China firmly supports and focuses on development.
Within the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have been selected as the first batch of pilot cities for "vehicle road cloud integration". The pilot areas of this cooperation will also focus on mutual recognition, road connectivity, and regulatory coordination, allowing "single player players" who used to work alone to form "strong teams" through cloud deployment.
In Zhang Xiang's opinion, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai have taken the lead in promoting the mutual recognition of qualifications, road connectivity, and regulatory coordination of intelligent connected vehicles, achieving the unification of technology paths, communication protocols, and other fields ahead of schedule, laying a good foundation and preparation for the next stage of intelligent connected vehicles between cities. "Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Zhuhai are very close, let's work together to build intelligent connected demonstration zones, and cities will be connected, avoiding a large amount of investment in system compatibility in the later stage
The pilot area includes three important platforms for Guangdong Hong Kong Macao cooperation, and the intention to promote the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the intelligent connected vehicle industry is also very obvious.
Nansha is a demonstration zone for comprehensive cooperation among Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao. The cooperation among the four regions was also led and facilitated by the Nansha Office of the province. Xie Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Nansha Development Zone in Guangzhou, shared at the ceremony, "Looking back on the past, we have worked hard together to promote the automotive industry in South China to be at the forefront of the country. Now, we take this signing as an opportunity to promote the integration of autonomous driving research and development, testing, production, transportation, and logistics services in the Greater Bay Area, gradually radiating and driving Hong Kong and Macao, and continuously expanding the 'circle of friends' recognized by each other in different regions
Huang Kailin also believes that intelligent vehicles represented by autonomous driving can solve the pain points of travel and logistics services in Hong Kong and Macau, but it is still necessary to promote breakthroughs in local laws and regulations and further connect with the rules and standards of the mainland.
In Hengqin, autonomous driving road testing and demonstration applications have been fully opened up, introducing 38 autonomous driving buses, taxis, sanitation cleaning vehicles, etc., and opening 4 autonomous driving manned demonstration application shuttle routes. The number of Macau residents who test drove and experienced the autonomous driving manned routes has reached 16000. Vice President of the City University of Macau, Ye Guiping, believes that the demonstration route of the Shenzhen Cooperation Zone has enabled more Macau residents to feel the leapfrog development of national technology. In the field of autonomous driving industry, he believes that Hong Kong and Macau can act as investment participants to jointly support the development of future industries.