Caocao Chuxing, the ride-hailing unit under Chinese private automaker Geely, will start testing autonomous driving ride-hailing services in the second half of 2020, local tech media 36Kr reported on Thursday.
The firm is planning to complete the application of road test licenses for autonomous vehicles by the end of the second quarter of 2020, and complete regular road tests with at least two of Caocao’s driverless cars, an internal source told 36Kr.
The source also mentioned that Caocao plans to expand its fleet of autonomous vehicles to 10 cars in the second half of 2020, which can be accessed via Caocao’s ride-hailing app.
Caocao plans to launch passenger test rides in 2021 after further expansion of its fleet, and cover major areas in Hangzhou during the 2022 Asian Games, the same internal source said, without providing additional details.
For its autonomous driving business, the ride-hailing service provider is collaborating with Shenzhen-based DeepRoute, a level-4 full-stack self-driving solution provider founded in 2019.
Other companies, such as WeRide, announced plans to offer fully driverless robotaxis available to the public by 2021, KrASIA reported, while AutoX recently opened in Shanghai a robotaxi operation center, which the firm says it is the largest data hub for self-driving cars in Asia.
36Kr is KrASIA’s parent company.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.