July 25,Autonomous driving company Pony.ai announced that it has officially launched 24/7 public road testing of autonomous driving in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.According to officials, only 30% of nighttime public transportation capacity remains during the day. The company uses multi-sensor fusion such as lidar and millimeter-wave radar to allow "AI drivers" to identify obstacles within 650 meters in dark light, rain and fog, filling the gap in late-night travel.
Previously, Pony.ai’s testing hours were limited to 7 a.m. to 23 p.m. Open for all-weather testing, it not only demonstrates the maturity of the technology, but also allows Pony.ai to explore the application of autonomous driving in late-night scenarios.
Pony.ai WeChat public account introduces the process of autonomous driving at night
It is reported that Pony.ai has a global test mileage of more than 50 million kilometers and has 500,000 hours of fully unmanned operation experience. Its L4 system adopts a multi-sensor fusion solution (including lidar, high-definition camera, millimeter-wave radar), which can achieve 360-degree environmental perception and safety decision-making far beyond that of humans, even in dark light, strong light interference, or no-light environments, and avoid night driving risks.
Based on "world model + virtual driver" technology, its seventh-generation vehicle has a sensing range of up to 650 meters and has the ability to self-clean in heavy fog and rainstorms. With the large-scale implementation of seventh-generation vehicles in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, this system may fill the gap in nighttime services and provide new travel options.