On March 18th, it was revealed that during the 2024 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Conference, Zhou Guang, the CEO of Yuanrong Qixing, stated that L4-level autonomous driving is entirely deceptive.
Zhou Guang remarked, "We used to be an L4 company as well, but in 2022, we decided to steer clear of L4. It's just a sham. L4 autonomous driving players merely produce a map and run with it, devoid of any viable business model."
In the realm of autonomous driving, Zhou Guang isn't just another newcomer. He's a heavyweight in the industry himself. Graduating from the scientific program at Tsinghua University for his bachelor's degree, he later pursued a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at the University of Texas.
After graduating in 2016, he joined Baidu's USA Research & Development Center, specializing in autonomous driving. In 2019, he founded the autonomous driving company, Yuanrong Qixing, securing $300 million in Series B funding and propelling it to unicorn status.
Yuanrong Qixing's flagship product, "Deeproute-Driver," stands out as the industry's first advanced intelligent driving solution costing less than 14,000 CNY.
It doesn't rely on high-precision maps and can achieve full-domain point-to-point advanced intelligent driving. By 2023, it has accumulated over 10 million kilometers of road testing without any safety incidents.
Moreover, it supports vehicle OEMs, significantly reducing the development and adaptation costs for car manufacturers. It has already collaborated with multiple automotive companies to promote the mass production of intelligent driving vehicles.
In the commercial vehicle sector, Yuanrong Qixing has partnered with Deppon Express to provide automatic driving freight transfer services, marking the first successful commercial project for automatic driving light trucks in China.
According to the official website, Yuanrong Qixing is dedicated to developing low-cost, high-performance intelligent driving OEM solutions, aiming to create "affordable autonomous driving for everyone".
