Tencent tech equipped driverless vehicle shows up on public roads for first time

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- At around 10 o'clock a.m. on April 2, a prototype vehicle equipped with Tencent's driverless system showed up for the first time along the fourth ring road of Beijing. According to local media, this prototype is a white SUV modified model equipped with a remarkable Lidar on the roof and a remolded sensor at the rear end, which also seems like a Lidar. In addition, the designer installed many sensors like camera and millimeter-wave radar around the vehicle body. 

In March 2017, Tencent had bought 5% share in Tesla and became the automakers' fifth largest shareholder. What's more, Tencent and Baidu had led a $600 million funding round in the Shanghai-based electric car maker NIO. In November last year, Tencent reportedly developed its own driverless system which had been started internal tests.

Apart from Tencent, the other two Internet giants in China, Baidu and Alibaba, have also deployed their layouts in driverless vehicle areas. As early as July, 2014, Baidu confirmed for the first time that the company had already initiated the R&D program dubbed “Baidu driverless vehicle”. Besides, Baidu planned to launch the "small-scale mass production and trial operation" of L4 minibus in cooperation with King Long, a Xiamen-based bus manufacturer, Baidu's chairman Robin Li revealed at the company annual technology conference last year. Moreover, Baidu also planned to launch L3 driverless vehicle models, teaming up with manufacturers JAC Motors, BAIC and Chery Auto. 

Alibaba and SAIC Motors announced in March 2015 that two companies would jointly set up an Internet vehicle fund involving RMB 1 billion that would prioritize the R&D of in-vehicle system.