Li Auto starts media test drive for urban NOA technology

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Li Auto, the Chinese new energy vehicle startup, kicked off its urban NOA media test drive event in Beijing this week.

Media test drive event; photo credit: Li Auto

The test drive was conducted in one of Beijing’s most busy areas, putting the city NOA technology, which does not rely on high-definition maps, to the test. Additionally, Li Auto also introduced a commuting NOA feature, which is aimed at making daily commutes easier and more seamless.

The complexity of urban road scenarios poses significant challenges for the development of intelligent driving. Maneuvering through complex intersections, navigating vehicle interactions, coping with construction and lane changes are all high-difficulty scenarios for urban NOA, said Li Auto.

During the test drive, the "AI driver" needed to autonomously navigate through 58 intersections, encountering traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, merging vehicles, and independent lane changes, among other challenging scenarios.

Li Auto's urban NOA technology architecture utilizes NPN features and TIN networks to enhance the BEV large model, achieving map-independent object recognition. It employs imitation learning to enable rule-based algorithms to make more human-like decisions. Moreover, the architecture also adopts a fully automated and closed-loop training platform that supports continuous evolution of the large-scale model.

The internal testing phase for urban NOA in Beijing and Shanghai is about to commence, and early adopters will have the opportunity to experience the urban NOA functionality firsthand, according to Li Auto.

As to Li Auto’s daily commuting NOA function, AD Max vehicle users can set their commuting routes and the automation training begins during their daily commutes. Activation is expected within one week for simple routes and 2-3 weeks for complex routes. 

With the introduction of urban NOA, commuting NOA, and high-speed NOA, Li Auto's NOA navigation-assisted driving functionality now covers all driving scenarios, including daily commutes, inner city travel, and comfortable long-distance travel.