Traveling from Beijing Yizhuang to Daxing Airport now has a new option - about a self-driving vehicle. Recently, Pony.ai announced the launch of the autonomous driving manned demonstration between Beijing Daxing International Airport and Beijing Yizhuang, becoming the first batch of enterprises approved to carry out the demonstration application of passenger vehicles (robotaxi) expressways in Beijing.
Pony.ai has launched a pick-up and drop-off function on the ride-hailing app Ponypilot+, allowing passengers to book a pick-up and drop-off service at Daxing Airport on the "Book a Car" interface on the mobile app one day in advance. After the reservation is successful, passengers can wait for the autonomous vehicle at the agreed time and place. Currently, Pony.ai's airport shuttle service is from 10:00 to 17:00.
The automatic driving "airport line" has set up more than 600 stations in the core area of Beijing Yizhuang to the pick-up and drop-off points of Daxing Airport, the automatic driving pick-up point of Daxing Airport is the fast pick-up channel 17a on the ground floor of the terminal, and the drop-off point is Zhongyuan Road at the departure gate of No. 5 on the 4th floor of the terminal. The operating routes cover urban roads and expressways, including about 40 kilometers of expressways, including the Beijing-Taiwan Expressway, the Daxing Airport North Line Expressway, and the Daxing Airport Expressway.
Pony.ai has been vigorously promoting the expansion and commercial implementation of autonomous driving travel business (robotaxi), and the urban travel scenarios of airports and high-speed rail stations are an important part, which is characterized by long one-way mileage, high unit price and large scene span. The operation of such scenarios means more mature iteration of technical capabilities and exploration of revenue models, which is of irreplaceable significance for the development of the autonomous driving travel industry.
With the acceleration of the construction of the high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone in Beijing, the autonomous driving airport line connection is undoubtedly an important benchmark for scene expansion in the phased construction process. The demonstration area is in 3Phase 0 will gradually cover 600 square kilometers of the city on the basis of 60 square kilometers of Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone. According to the 2024 Beijing Municipal Work Report, Beijing will start the construction of a high-level autonomous driving demonstration area in 20240-stage tasks to promote the orderly opening of key application scenarios such as airports, railway stations, and urban road cleaning.
The approval of the Airport Line passenger demonstration application is also a recognition of Pony.ai's mileage accumulation, technical capabilities, and test safety in urban and high-speed scenario testing. As early as July 2021, Pony.ai was approved to carry out highway tests of passenger cars and trucks in the Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone, and then gradually carry out tests on six Beijing expressways and urban expressways that will be opened in phases. In September 2023, Pony.ai took the lead in carrying out autonomous driving road tests between Daxing Airport and Beijing Yizhuang, and plans to gradually open up passenger demonstration applications and commercial pilots in stages in accordance with the regulations of the Pilot Zone.
Since its establishment seven years ago, Pony.ai has laid the foundation for the implementation of autonomous airport travel applications through the layout of autonomous passenger car travel and truck logistics, as well as the fully unmanned driving technology under urban roads and highways.