Is autonomous driving about to take a wrong turn?
Jidu Automotive, a joint venture created by Chinese vehicle maker Geely and technology giant Baidu, has announced plans to put its self-driving electric car, the Robo-01 Lunar Edition, on sale next year at around $55,000.
The launch of the limited edition car is timed to coincide with China’s lunar exploration project, and is equipped with two LiDAR, a radar in the 5mm range, twelve ultrasonic sensors and twelve high-definition cameras. In terms of performance, it is on a par with the latest vehicles: 100 kWh battery manufactured by CATL, a range of 600 km, and acceleration from zero to 100 in around four seconds.
According to the company, it is “more a robot than a car”, and aims to become the standard for autonomous vehicles. The press release does reveal whether it is a fully autonomous vehicle or only level 4 (allowing complete disengagement from driving and safety in limited areas only) and instead describes it as offering “high-level autonomous driving”. But the fact that the steering wheel is optional and completely detachable leads one to think that it could be designed to achieve level 5 driving, when the law allows.
The company has developed the technology to launch such a vehicle thanks to the experience of more than one million hours of fully autonomous driving of its robotaxi fleets that use the…
