Geely-backed ride-hailing platform said to test self-driving car-hailing service in second half

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Caocao Mobility, the ride-hailing arm of the Chinese automaker Geely, reportedly attempts to test self-driving ride-hailing service in the second half of the year as the company considers that using autonomous cars would help reduce operational costs and improve the efficiency of order assignment.

The mobility service provider plans to complete the application for the license of autonomous vehicle road tests and the real-road tests for at least two vehicles in the second quarter, according to a local media outlet, citing a source familiar with the plan.

The Geometry A, an all-electric model under Geely's BEV brand “Geometry”, is adopted as the one to be tested. The company is refitting the vehicles and aims to form a fleet composed of around ten autonomous vehicles that are connected with Caocao’s app in the second half, according to the source.

(Photo source: Caocao Mobility)

The trial ride available for the general public will perhaps kick off next year, the source revealed.

Caocao Mobility has not been reached for comment when the report is prepared.

The Geely-backed platform operator announced in August 2016 it was testing outside China the on-demand service that allowed users to hail a self-driving car with a simple click. Caocao viewed that self-driving cars used in ride-hailing service can reduce the cost in managing drivers and lift transport capacity. On the other hand, the mechanism of order assignment will be further perfected after the self-driving system is fully connected with HD map data and urban traffic infrastructures.

DeepRoute.ai, a Chinese startup committed to providing level 4 full-stack self-driving solution, is said to offer Caocao Mobility technical supports. It has R&D hubs in Shenzhen and Beijing with a R&D chain covering hardware, HD map, systems for sensing, planning, control, simulation as well as cloud platform, etc.

The technology company launched in January a new automotive-grade solution dubbed DeepRoute-Tite, which is designed to reduce the cost and volume of computing platforms.