International autonomous driving technology company DeepRoute.ai has revealed details of its new robotaxi fleet equipped with its L4 autonomous driving solution, Driver 2.0. Composed of 30 SAIC Motor Marvel R SUVs. The fleet will deploy in Shenzhen, China, in the coming months.
DeepRoute.ai says it is collaborating with local and global auto makers to achieve series production of L4 autonomous driving vehicles and expects to further reduce the current US$10,000 cost of its solution by approximately 70%. To this end, the Driver 2.0 sensor configurations can be customized to meet auto makers’ needs, equipped with two to five solid-state lidars and eight cameras.
Its low-energy consumption computing platform and inference engine combined with Nvidia Drive Orin SoCs will, the company says, enable it to meet automotive-grade standards for series production more quickly. The use of a camera-based redundancy perception system is stated to guarantee autonomous capabilities should other sensors malfunction, in addition to 5G remote control and network safety redundancy incorporated into the safety-critical systems.
The company projects that mass production of L4 autonomous driving vehicles equipped with Driver 2.0 will begin in 2024 and be available for consumer purchase afterward. It suggests that L4 self-driving will initially be achieved in areas supported by rich data, while having numerous L4 consumer vehicles on the road, operating in a hybrid model, will continuously gather additional data, laying the foundation for the scaling of L4 autonomous driving in other cities.
“We aspire to be the top facilitator of smart transportation, bringing high-performance, advanced autonomous driving capabilities to the market at an accessible price. The debut of this groundbreaking Robotaxi fleet offers the industry a vivid sneak peek into the future of L4 Robotaxis and what is possible for the consumer vehicle,” said Maxwell Zhou, CEO of DeepRoute.ai. “As our technology advances, our path to commercialization accelerates.”