The "competition field" of autonomous driving is coming.
California not only has sunshine and heavy rain, but also the annual self-driving road test report released by the California Transportation Authority (DMV). The 2021 California autonomous driving test data is as promised.
Globally, California is the world's largest and longest-running self-driving company, collecting a large amount of test data each year. A total of 28 California road test licenses submitted test data for the reporting period this year.
Under the DMV, self-driving companies are not allowed to submit tests on private roads, on roads outside of California, and below SAE or in simulation. In 2021, self-driving test vehicles traveled about 4.1 million miles on California's public roads, more than 2 million more than the previous reporting cycle.
Among them, Waymo has 693 vehicles in California, running 2.32 million miles in the whole year, and the mileage is overwhelming. The second-place Cruise tested a range of about 876,000 miles, followed by China's Pony Zhixing, which squeezed into the top three with 300,000 miles. However, waymo's takeover frequency is not low, with an average mileage interval of 7965 miles, which is widely used to compare the maturity of autonomous driving technology, and is also one of the highlights of DMV's annual autonomous driving road test report.
Can MPI represent true technical prowess?
In dmv's annual road test data, MPI (Miles Per Intervention, the average mileage traveled between each two manual interventions) is widely regarded by the industry as one of the core indicators to measure the level of autonomous driving technology.
Among the companies in the takeover situation, 5 of the top 10 companies in the MPI are Chinese companies, and there is a significant improvement compared with the 2020 data performance. In 2021, AutoX appeared at the top of the MPI list, that is, only 1 takeover in the 50,000-mile road test; in 2020, AutoX's takeover mileage MPI was only 20,000 miles. AutoX is also the second company in California to obtain a fully driverless license in the world and the first in China.
In second place was Cruise, with an MPI of 41,700 miles, up nearly 50 percent from 28,500 miles the previous year. Cruise's performance is relatively stable, and it is also the fastest growing self-driving company under the incubation of car companies. It was previously reported that Cruise had completed the final preparations for opening up Robotaxi operations in San Francisco and was about to develop a driverless taxi service for the public.
Didi's self-driving was close behind, with 12 road test vehicles running 40,745 miles a year, taking over only once, and the MPI was 7.83 times higher than in 2020. At present, Didi Autonomous Driving has obtained road test qualifications in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou, California and other places, and in the past year, the total mileage of Didi Autonomous Driving's actual test roads in Shanghai has increased by nearly 10 times compared with before. And in April last year, the world's first autonomous driving video for 5 consecutive hours without taking over was released.
Fourth-place Argo also has an MPI of 36,700 miles, and the four companies have now surpassed Waymo's average takeover mileage of 29,000 miles in 2020.
It is worth mentioning that there is one company that has not taken over manually during the period, that is, Wincher Technology, but its test mileage is too short, and the total test mileage is only 39 miles.
DMVs explain the self-driving road test reports, in which the companies provide their own total number of departures, environmental or test conditions, location, and total miles driven in autonomous mode on public roads. Detachment can occur when a technical fault is detected or when a safety driver needs to take immediate control of the vehicle. These reports provide insight into a company's road testing activities in California, but are not intended to be compared or intended to draw broad conclusions about technical capabilities.
At present, 50 companies have valid licenses to test autonomous vehicles by safe drivers, and 7 companies have driverless test licenses, namely Baidu Apollo, AutoX, Cruise, Nuro, Waymo, Wenyuan Zhixing and ZOOX. Among them, three test licenses without safety officers were obtained in 2021, namely Baidu Apollo, Wenyuan Zhixing and Xiaoma Zhixing, but The Ponies withdrew their road test permits due to accidents in October.
In 2021, a total of four companies released test data for driverless cars: Baidu Apollo, Cruise, Nuro and Xiaoma Zhixing, and only one takeover of Xiaoma Zhixing in the test.
Waymo's volatility and domestic momentum are on the rise
The most obvious change in California's self-driving test data in 2021 is the volatility of Waymo and the firmness of Chinese companies.
In 2020, waymo, which is also leading the way in total mileage and average takeover mileage, has seen frequent takeovers, and there have been many accidents. In 2021, there were 117 accidents and 64 Waymo-related accidents in California throughout the year.
In addition, several times occurred in Cruise's 30 cases, Zoox's 9 cases, Apple's 5 cases, Wenyuan Zhixing's 3 cases, Argo AI's 3 cases, Xiaoma Zhixing's 2 cases, and Lyft 1 case.
Sure enough, Waymo has a big opinion on the disclosure of data. According to foreign media reports, waymo is recently arguing with DMV over public data.
Waymo believes that disclosing some of the data and details of the accident may let others know the technical points that Waymo is part of a trade secret. In addition, the full disclosure of these data may trigger a "chilling effect" in the industry, "if there is evidence that their trade secrets are made public, then potential market participants interested in deploying self-driving cars in California will be discouraged from investing valuable time and resources in developing this technology." ”
In the past year, waymo has experienced some personnel turmoil, as the leader of L4 level automatic driving, such performance will indeed have a certain impact on the industry, and the technical exploration and commercialization of high-end automatic driving are still a long way to go.
But the good news brought by this report is that China's self-driving companies are struggling with China and Japan, and the data performance is further. Among the 28 companies submitting data this time, there are 9 Chinese companies. Among them, the total test mileage of Pony Zhixing is the longest, including 300,000 miles of 9,000 miles with and without safety officers, and the number of takeovers is 21 and 1 respectively.
Last October, the Pony Chi Heng driverless test vehicle turned right and crashed into a central divider and a traffic sign in Fremont, California, without injuring anyone. But as a result, Pony Chi Heng's license as an unsafe officer in California was revoked.
Wenyuan Zhixing ran 57,900 miles in California in 2021, taking over 3 times, and MPI ranked fifth in the world, also in front of Waymo. In 2021, Wenyuan WeRide, Baidu Apollo, and Xiaoma Zhixing all obtained driverless licenses issued by the California DMV. At the same time, around the urban scene, it has successively launched the Manned Wenyuan Minibus Robobus, the self-driving light passenger Robovan Robobo carrying goods, and recently launched the Sweet unmanned sweeper, which has launched a comprehensive competition with a number of track players.
Baidu Apollo's test mileage in California last year was not much, only 1468 miles, perhaps focusing on the country. In 2021, Baidu Apollo took the first step in commercialization, opening up driverless charging services to the public in Beijing Shougang Park in May, and obtaining the first batch of pilot service licenses for the commercialization of autonomous travel services in November.
In the world, Baidu Apollo ranks first in the number of test miles, with the actual road test mileage of urban roads exceeding 21 million kilometers. In China alone, 30 cities have deployed road tests and opened up self-driving mobility services in six cities, including Beijing, Guangzhou, Changsha and Chongqing.
During the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, L5-level "Baidu Auto Robots" participated in the Winter Olympic Torch Relay, demonstrating the ability of autonomous driving to the world.
Che Yun summary
This year, autonomous driving on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, as a "torchbearer" debuted in the Winter Olympics, automatic driving is becoming a hot topic of the times.
In the global ranking of the California autonomous driving test, China's representative players have achieved remarkable results, which also reflects that the technical reserves and commercialization capabilities of Chinese companies will make them global leading participants that cannot be ignored.