Robot torch relay vehicle reveals road to the future

An unmanned vehicle carried the Olympic torch this month for the first time in Games history, showcasing China's driverless vehicle ambitions and capabilities.

The driverless car, developed by Chinese information technology giant Baidu, carried the torch for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games about 800 meters on Feb 2 at the capital's Shougang Industrial Park.

"We'd prefer to call it a robot because we will increasingly engage with more moving robots in our daily lives," said Wei Dong, vice-president of Baidu's automatic driving sector, adding that the vehicle represents the automobile industry's future.

The vehicle, which does not have a steering wheel, is a prototype, he said, adding that the team developing it will continue to improve its functions.

While the robot involved in the torch relay represents the future of unmanned vehicles, many unmanned cars using mature technologies have been put into operation in other areas.

In Yizhuang, a southern suburb of Beijing, residents have been able to hail robot taxis via a mobile phone app since Nov 25. The first commercialized autonomous driving project in China, subsidies keep fares to just 1 yuan (15 cents) a trip.

Passengers can click on the "start" button on screens in front of the back seats, and off they go.

Though a safety person is required to sit in the driver's seat, in accordance with current regulations in China, he or she does not need to lift a finger unless an emergency happens.

The vehicles follow a preprogrammed route and can operate automatically throughout the entire trip, including making turns, changing lanes, using turn signals when changing lanes and stopping for pedestrians or at traffic lights.

Icons representing the vehicle and other road users and obstacles, including cars, bicycles, buildings and pedestrians, appear on the screens during the trip.

More applications have also been applied in Beijing's northwestern Zhongguancun tech hub.

A minibus with 10 seats, developed and operated by Qcraft, a self-driving startup, offers commuting services between an industrial park and nearby subway stations.

The vehicle, with several radars and cameras, can recognize objects and obstacles as far as 250 meters in front of it, and 50 meters from its sides and rear.

"It is a trend to increase the number of short-distance buses, mainly serving passengers within a 3 kilometer radius of subway stations," said Hong Zexin, the company's marketing director, adding that traditional buses face challenges such as low punctuality and varying passenger numbers.

The company has operated such services in six Chinese cities, with nearly 100 buses deployed. All the services are free, in accordance with current regulations.

According to the Beijing municipal government's work report last year, the city is striving to build a smart transportation network featuring the deep integration of vehicles, roads, networks and cloud computing. It is also encouraging the development and use of unmanned vehicles.

The Chinese government has also released policies to guide the industry's development. In 2020, 11 ministry-level departments jointly released a strategy guideline on the innovative development of smart vehicles, setting the goal of building a smart vehicle system by 2025.