On Oct 19th, 2020, Dongfeng Technology Center initiated the Fifth Science and Technology Innovation Week. At the opening ceremony, Dongfeng Autopilot Project was officially launched. Dongfeng Technology Center, Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Districted signed agreements with well-known domestic universities and autonomous driving companies such as Deeproute – portfolio company of Ventech China invested in Angel Round.

Opening Ceremony for Dongfeng Autopilot Pilot Project (Photo source: Dongfeng Technology Center)

Invited guests of Dongfeng Autopilot Pilot Project (photo source: Dongfeng Technology Center)

According to the project plan, Dongfeng will cooperate with Deeproute and other enterprises to establish China's largest autonomous driving fleet in Wuhan Development District (Hannan District) and downtown Wuhan, with a total investment of CNY 600 million. From 2020 to 2022 , the pilot project will gradually launch about 200 autonomous vehicles. The project will also introduce and cultivate a group of intelligent network enterprises with international influence, expand the industrial chain with a long-term impact, and jointly build an intelligent network with Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone as the major automobile ecosystem. In the next five years, the intelligent network market will reach CNY 10 billion, and the market size of related industries will reach CNY 100 billion.

RoboTaxis jointly created by Deeproute and Dongfeng Motor

Deeproute is the autonomous driving company with the largest number of vehicles that participate in the Dongfeng autonomous driving pilot project, and it’s the only autonomous driving company that has cooperated with Dongfeng in daily testing since the 7th World Military Sports Competition in 2019. At present, Deeproute has 6 vehicles that are under testing on the street from Wuhan Dongfeng Motor headquarter to the technology center.

RoboTaxi, jointly built by Deeproute and Dongfeng Motor, is under testing

Liu Nianqiu, Vice President of Deeproute, said: "The implementation of RoboTaxi requires an industrial alliance across autonomous driving technology, vehicle platforms, and vehicle operations. Dongfeng has rich experience on automobile manufacturing, travel services, and intelligent networking. Therefore, working with Dongfeng to build the country's largest autonomous driving fleet will boost the domestic RoboTaxi operation to a new level ."

The RoboTaxis in the project will use Deeproute's new generation of sensor - DeepRoute-Sense II. Compared with the first generation, DeepRoute-Sense II has a more streamlined design, with 7 cameras all embedded in the roof box. The lidar on both sides of the solution has a minimum detectable distance of 0.1 meter and cover all 360 degrees, which can accurately perceive objects at a close range and handle the blind areas close to vehicles. 

RoboTaxi with DeepRoute-Sense II

In Oct 2019, during the 7th World Military Sports Competition, the RoboTaxi jointly offered by Dongfeng and Deeproute held demonstrations in the National Intelligent Networked Vehicles Demonstration Zone in Wuhan, and the response of participants is overly positive.

In addition, Deeproute has teamed up with Dongfeng Vehicle Technology Commercialization Center and a number of well-known companies to provide the Xiamen wharf of COSCO Shipping Group with autonomous driving container truck solutions including 5G remote supervision modules, creating the country's first 5G fully intelligent dock.

The two parties can utilize respective advantages in vehicles, operations, automatic driving techniques and more. With the in-depth cooperation on the RoboTaxi project, the partmersip would explore the technical difficulties and business models of autopilot operations, and gradually introduced the RoboTaxi services to the Wuhan public.