Geely, Baidu put AI-enabled ROBOCAR JiYue 01 onto market, starting at 249,900 yuan

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Geely Holding Group ("Geely Holding"), China's largest privately owned automotive conglomerate, and Baidu's joint-venture automotive robocar brand, JiYue ROBOCAR, put their first AI power all-electric ROBOCAR, the ROBOCAR JiYue 01, onto the market on October 27.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 comes with two trim levels: the Max and the Max Performance, and features a guidance price range of 249,900 yuan to 339,900 yuan.

Photo credit: JiYue

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 boasts dimensions of 4,853mm*1,990mm*1,611mm, a wheelbase of 3,000mm, and a spacious 2,161 liters of cargo space with the rear seats folded down, capable of accommodating up to 29 suitcases measuring 20 inches each.

The vehicle is offered in five exterior and three interior color schemes. It follows a futuristic design philosophy inspired by robotics with most physical controls eliminated.

Photo credit: JiYue

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 boasts exceptional aerodynamic design, achieving an impressively low drag coefficient of 0.249Cd. It incorporates multiple features which are usually regarded as standard niceties on luxury cars, including front all-aluminum double-wishbone and rear all-aluminum H-Arm multi-link suspensions, CDC (continuous damping control), Brembo high-performance sport calipers, and precise chassis tuning.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 comes standard with 19-inch/21-inch aerodynamic wheels and offers an optional 21-inch high-performance sport wheel. It's 200kW electric drive unit weighs only 91.5kg.

Photo credit: JiYue

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 Max is available with a single electric motor and offers a choice between 71.4kWh and 100kWh power batteries, providing a range of 550km and 720km, respectively. The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 Max Performance version features dual motors with a peak power of up to 400kW and the lightning-fast intelligent four-wheel-drive system capable of switching between two-wheel and four-wheel drive modes in just 0.4 seconds, achieving a 0-100km/h acceleration in as little as 3.8 seconds and a 660km range on the 100kWh power battery.

The automaker claimed that the ROBOCAR JiYue 01 is the world's first intelligent car to navigate complex Chinese city roads with "pure vision" perception algorithms without any human intervention. It incorporates Baidu Apollo's advanced autonomous driving capabilities and safety systems, with over 70 million kilometers of safety testing for Apollo's Level 4 autonomous driving.

The "pure vision" approach of BEV+Transformer is realized in the ROBOCAR JiYue 01, utilizing dual NVIDIA DRIVE Orin chips with 508 TOPS AI computing power. The "pure vision" perception architecture is equipped with a total of 28 intelligent driving sensors, including 11 high-definition cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and 5 millimeter-wave radar sensors, replacing traditional LiDAR with OCC (Occupancy Network) technology, representing a leading edge in advanced autonomous driving technology. Currently, there are only two brands in the world that have adopted the "pure vision" autonomous driving solution, with JiYue being one of them, alongside Tesla.

Photo credit: JiYue

At the launch event, JiYue introduced the high-level autonomous driving system called "ROBO Drive Max," which offers a subscription plan for 980 yuan per month or a one-time purchase option for 49,900 yuan (available for a limited time at 19,900 yuan). This system includes features like point-to-point navigation assistance (PPA), valet parking (AVP), and full autonomous driving capabilities.

The PPA offers advanced intelligent driving assistance for various scenarios, including highways and urban areas, allowing the vehicle to autonomously change lanes, overtake, merge onto or exit from ramps, and navigate within lanes. In urban areas, it can recognize crosswalks, traffic lights, and execute driving tasks such as yielding to pedestrians, making left turns without protection, and avoiding non-motorized vehicles.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 is the world’s first model to support voice-activated/controlled parking while outside the vehicle. Users can command ROBOCAR JiYue 01 to utilize its AVP autonomous valet parking function to park itself or pickup users in indoor or outdoor parking lots from up to 2km away.

Photo credit: JiYue

The ROBO Drive includes features like lane-keeping, automatic parking assistance, collision warnings, and lane departure warnings, providing seamless integration between the cabin and driving experience. Currently, the ROBO Drive functionality is standard across all trims and available throughout the country at no extra cost.

In 2023, the ROBO Drive Max will gradually roll out its advanced autonomous driving features in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hangzhou, and 90% of highways will support PPA by 2024.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 excels not only in advanced autonomous driving capabilities but also in its remarkable cabin voice interaction abilities. It is equipped with the Qualcomm 8295 vehicle cockpit chips, utilizing dual NPUs (60TOPS), offering approximately eight times the processing power of current mainstream chips.

Photo credit: JiYue

The cabin features a 35.6-inch 6k integrated screen with a pixel density of 185PPI. Additionally, a 7-inch rear interactive LCD screen provides visual feedback for interactions with the SIMO intelligent vehicle AI partner, as well as control of functions such as air conditioning and multimedia, and offers exterior door-opening warnings.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 is a pioneer in fully localized voice AI algorithms, featuring SIMO as its intelligent AI companion. SIMO's speech recognition operates at a rapid pace of 500 milliseconds, encompassing intricate situations both inside and outside the vehicle. It accommodates four-way simultaneous conversations and sustained dialogues. The AI system supports multiple modes of interaction, including voice, gestures, and visual cues, elevating the level of personalization for users.

Photo credit: JiYue

SIMO benefits from Baidu's integrated AI system, Ernie Bot, enabling its ongoing growth and the development of logical reasoning and strategic planning capabilities. Thus, the ROBOCAR JiYue 01 is the world's first intelligent car to carry a large model of such kind.

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 prioritizes safety with its robust design, using the Geely SEA (Sustainable Experience Architecture) and an "armor-like" car body structure. Its body torsional stiffness reaches nearly 40,000N·m/Deg, exceeding the industry's mainstream standards of 20,000-30,000N·m/Deg.

Photo credit: JiYue

The ROBOCAR JiYue 01 comes standard with electric safety belts for the driver, which can work in conjunction with active safety features. Both front and rear seat belts are equipped with force limiters and pretensioners, ensuring the safety of all passengers. The vehicle is equipped with six airbags, with the passenger side featuring JiYue’s self-developed "leap-styled" airbag system to address challenges posed by the large 35.6-inch screen and narrow gap with the windshield.

The vehicle boasts a comprehensive information security system, employing end-to-end encryption technology to safeguard user personal data and privacy during everyday use, ensuring that no one, including the carmaker itself, can access encrypted data.

Photo credit: JiYue

JiYue has established over 40 offline brand experience centers in more than 20 cities across the country. Moreover, it is accelerating the expansion of its terminal service network, with over 30 own-brand and 40 authorized service outlets currently operating nationwide, covering over 30 major cities. By the end of this year, JiYue's after-sales service network will expand to over 120 cities, providing comprehensive support to users.

Photo credit: JiYue

In terms of charging infrastructure, JiYue has already had access to more than 300,000 DC charging piles in more than 300 cities across China. Additionally, it plans to establish over 100 JiYue-branded fast-charging stations in nine core cities by the end of this year.