Geely-backed Cao Cao Mobility kicks off autonomous driving road tests in Hangzhou

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Cao Cao Mobility, the ride-hailing arm of the Chinese automaker Geely, announced on August 19 its autonomous cars jointly developed with DeepRoute.ai, a Shenzhen-based full-stack self-driving solution developer, has been put into road tests and trial operation in Hangzhou after being given green light by local authorities.

(Photo source: Cao Cao Mobility's WeChat account)

The Geometry A, the first mass-produced model of Geely's BEV-focused Geometry brand, has been adopted as the vehicle model to be tested on roads. According to ride-hailing platform, the autonomous driving fleet will be enlarged to 10 cars in the second half of 2020 and will be connected to Cao Cao Mobility's App. Besides, the test drive service is expected to be opened to the public next year. During the 2020 Asian Games, the fleet may be grow to several hundreds of vehicles, which will be deployed key areas of Hangzhou.

Cao Cao said it features congenital advantages in developing autonomous driving technologies. As a ride-hailing platform, it is able to get a vast amount of data related to users and drivers and boasts a raft of experience in fleet distribution. The ample resources of big data can help the autonomous driving system better recognize lane lines, vehicles, pedestrians, traffic lights and other objects, so as to make an autonomous car safer and more reliable. 

(Photo source: Cao Cao Mobility's WeChat account)

In addition, Cao Cao Mobility's efforts will also be favorable to a widespread popularization of autonomous driving technologies by offering self-driving rides to the general public.

Earlier this week, Auto X, a Shenzhen-headquartered autonomous driving startup, formally launched its Robotaxi service to the public in Shanghai, which allows users to hail a self-driving car for free through the ride-hailing service App of AutoNavi, an Alibaba-backed digital mapping, navigation and location-based service provider.