SAIC’s commercial vehicle autonomous driving company partners with Hesai Techonology

Beijing (Gasgoo)- SAIC Motor’s young commercial vehicle autonomous driving subsidiary, UTO Pilot, has partnered up with LiDAR supplier Hesai Technology for the latter’s L3-L4 level autonomous driving LiDARs, Hesai announced on December 15th.

Signing ceremony; photo credit: Hesai Technology

Aside from LiDAR supplying, the two parties also plan to cooperate on the mass production of semi-solid-state LiDARs. Their partnership will revolve around the R&D and iteration of autonomous technologies and potential business applications.

UTO Pilot has accumulated experiences from its Yangshan Port “5G+L4” intelligent heavy-duty truck project. The company has formed an innovative “technology + product + operation” business model, with L3 and L4 level autonomous driving products dedicated to the port, plant, and trunkline logistic scenarios.

The company has established strategic partnerships with various major ports in China, including Port of Shanghai and Port of Qingdao. Meanwhile, UTO Pilot has been laying out in multiple commercialized scenarios, such as steel mills, power plants, shipyards, and distribution centers.

Moreover, UTO Pilot said that it will launch a new L3 intelligent heavy-duty product in 2022 and starting commercial operations under specific scenarios.

By the first half of December, the company has accumulated over 2 million kilometers of prospective commercial autonomous driving operation mileage via its L4 intelligent heavy-duty trucks, transporting over 61,000 standard boxes of cargo.