Ali Damo Academy abandoned the research and development of unmanned vehicles.
Even Ali has abandoned the development of L4 autonomous driving, and the autonomous driving laboratory of Damo Academy has all been merged into Cainiao Group, which means that even Alibaba can not burn automatic driving, and it is necessary to see the specific returns in actual scenarios. However, Ali's adjustment is also like completing a certain fateful return of the autonomous driving team, going back and forth from rookies.
Why do you say that? As early as 2015, automatic driving was only a forward-looking concept in the investment circle, and Chen Junbo of Ali's bottom wheel port took the lead in putting forward the idea of laying out autonomous driving, and asserted that the best application field of unmanned driving is in logistics, that is, in Cainiao Network, so he also specially applied to transfer to Cainiao to engage in unmanned logistics vehicle projects.
The four-year logistics robot Xiao G is smooth and bright, and looks similar to the current little rabbit, because Xiao G launched Chen Junbo and his team will set up Cainiao et Lab, focusing on the research and development of cutting-edge logistics technology products, that is, the field of driverless logistics. At that time, in addition to Chen Junbo's rookie et laboratory, Wang Gang, chief scientist of Ali Artificial Intelligence Lab, and his team were also promoting logistics unmanned vehicle projects.
In order to avoid wasting resources, Alibaba combined two teams to form a new team of about 300 people, that is, the autonomous driving department of Damo Lab, which can be said to be Ali's autonomous driving business.
At the beginning of its birth, it started from the vertical field, backed by the technical support of DAMO Academy and backed by the resources of the entire Alibaba Group, and gradually developed. This obviously looks like the momentum is good, why did Ali give up the research and development of automatic driving? From the perspective of external resistance, the development of the autonomous driving industry has been sluggish in recent years, many autonomous driving companies have laid off employees to reduce expenses, and the relevant laws are not perfect, such as the right-of-way responsibility of low-speed unmanned delivery vehicles is not clear.
In addition, Alibaba's self-driving business has encountered many difficulties of its own. First of all, they are very short of money, Ali's unmanned delivery vehicles rely only on the scattered orders of colleges and universities and supermarkets within a fixed range, and it is difficult to continue operating. Secondly, there is a lack of technology, and in terms of technology iteration, Ali's automatic driving has also been limited. In the end, they still lacked people, and the main member Wang Gang Chen Junbo left in 20223, resulting in Ali losing his autonomous driving leader. So Ali, who is not poor in money, has also begun to bow to reality and seek a way out for the driverless industry.
Who do you think will survive to the end of the current autonomous driving players, discuss it in the comments section.
