While funding for China’s autonomous driving industry has cooled in recent years, the global autonomous vehicle market is expected to reach 556 billion dollars by 2026, according to Allied Market Research.
Companies are currently facing an uphill battle, but if they prove successful, they could lead to major innovations in the way people commute, as well as how goods are transported. KrASIA took a look at five companies aiming to bring a driverless future to the masses.
First, there’s tech giant Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU) which has logged over a million miles of on-road testing. Although its autonomous driving business is not yet profitable, the company has been developing autonomous road infrastructure and has started picking up passengers with their robotaxis. The technology behind their self-driving vehicles, called Apollo, is also open source and has been used by over a hundred companies.
Companies including WeRide and Pony.ai have also been implementing their technologies to launch robotaxi operations, with the goal of being able in the future to provide fully autonomous driving services aided by 5G.
Other firms, like AutoX, have developed full-stack Level 4 autonomous driving solutions that can be applied to various kinds of vehicles including sedans, SUVs, trucks, and electric vehicles.
There’s also TuSimple, which focuses on trucking. According to its CEO, TuSimple has 30 self-driving trucks in both the US and China. The company has clients such as the United States Postal Service and the United Parcel Service, which is also a minority shareholder.
To learn more, check out our video about these self-driving companies:
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