36Kr learned that Beijing Sinian Intelligent Driving Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Sinian Intelligent Driving") has obtained a round of financing of 100 million yuan, the leading investor is ByteDance, GF Shunde, Jinbang Capital and Chentao Capital and other old shareholders continue to follow the investment, and Investment Capital serves as the exclusive financial adviser. This round of financing will be used for the company's technology research and development, daily operations and market expansion.
Si Nian zhi drove the unmanned truck team
Founded in April 2020, Si Nian Intelligent Driving is a provider of unmanned driving solutions and operational services focusing on the pan-port field. Previously, Si Nian Intelligent Driving received angel round and Pre-A round financing in May 2020 and February 2021 respectively.
According to the data of China Water Transport Network, the current cost of truck drivers in domestic port operations accounts for more than 50% of the entire port transportation cost. The port truck driver needs at least A2 or above driving license, and there are few qualified drivers; at the same time, the port 24-hour operation requires drivers to work multiple shifts, which is prone to fatigue driving and other phenomena, resulting in safety hazards. In this context, port automation has been developed in the world for 40 to 50 years, and China has been deployed since about 2000, but due to the high cost of traditional AGV-related supporting facilities and other factors, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the degree of port automation.
The need for unmanned port driving has always been there, but there are also many technical difficulties to achieve. For example, the scene change of the port is calculated in hours, the challenge of feature selection and crowdsourcing update is larger; the port requires 7×24 hours of uninterrupted operation, which has very high requirements for day/night, cloud/sun/rain/snow and detection accuracy; the motion model of the semi-trailer is much more complicated than that of passenger cars, and the long response cycle of wire control significantly increases the difficulty of control.
Si Nian Intelligent Driving adopts laser + camera + millimeter wave + ultrasonic fusion scheme to ensure perceptual redundancy and meet the perception of various working conditions in the port; the self-developed hierarchical feature fusion network ensures that obstacles are 100% recalled, 99.7% accurate, and the calculation speed of 32fps can be reached on self-developed intelligent hardware to improve system stability; at the same time, multiple fusion positioning and accurate parking system ensure that Si Nian Intelligent Driving automatic collection card ± 5cm positioning accuracy and ± 2cm parking accuracy The original cloud control platform can support the intelligent scheduling of road networks and transportation equipment, support the real-time simulation of hundreds of unmanned transport vehicles, and remote monitoring and control.
In the port track, some companies such as Mainline Technology and Feibu Technology are also developing unmanned solutions. Compared with other suppliers, the unmanned driving system of Si Nian Zhi Can also adapt to loading and unloading ships, empty container sites and other working conditions, support the collaborative operation of tire cranes, rail cranes and stackers, and complete normalized unmanned horizontal transportation in multiple docks with mixed people and no one. In June 2021, Sinian Intelligent Driving signed the world's first L4-level unmanned driving commercial operation payment agreement with Ningbo Daxie Merchants Terminal, and in August 2021, Sinian Intelligent Driving signed an L4-level unmanned commercial operation payment agreement with Tangshan Jingtang Terminal. Taking the lead in obtaining orders for commercial operation of the port is also the difference between Si Nian Zhi Driving and other suppliers.
Si Nian intelligent driving normalization of unmanned driving operations
He Bei, CEO of Sinian Intelligent Driving, told 36Kr that in the first half of 2022, Sinian Intelligent Driving is expected to win 3 to 4 domestic port unmanned commercial operation orders. In addition, Si Nian Zhi Driving is also actively expanding the international market. Wang Chuhao, partner of Si Nian Zhi Driving, is the current executive chairman of the Alumni Association in Germany and is actively promoting the cooperation between Si Nian Zhi Driving and the Port of Hamburg in Germany. "In response to the call of the national Belt and Road Initiative and new infrastructure, in 2022 we will expand from the seaport to the river port, river port, dry port and foreign ports." This is inseparable from the high degree of replication and expansion of our products. "Si Nian Zhi Driving is expected to expand the pan-port unmanned transportation scene next year, extending its business to the short barn between ports and the logistics of trunk lines outside the port."
At present, Si Nian Intelligent Driving has deployed nearly 40 vehicles into the normal unmanned operation, and it is expected to gradually remove all safety personnel in 2022, when unmanned driving will greatly promote the cost reduction and efficiency of the port. On this basis, Si Nian Zhi Driving will provide a variety of business models such as operation and sales in the future to provide customers with the required business format services.
In terms of team, There are currently more than 100 people in Si Nian Intelligent Driving, most of the members have held important positions in well-known unmanned driving companies at home and abroad, and the core team has more than 5 years of experience in unmanned driving products, and has rich experience in the construction of mass unmanned hardware and software systems and commercial operation services. He Bei told 36Kr that the fundamental reason why Si Nian Zhi Driving can attract and retain talents is: the company's strategy is clear, the business landing speed is fast; the research and development ability is strong, and the training system can ensure that the members can give full play to their capabilities; the teamwork ability is strong, and it is a division that can recruit good fighters.