PRESS RELEASE: Driverless taxis are going viral in Wuhan, a sprawling metropolis of over 13 million people in central China.
Apollo Go, a subsidiary of Chinese tech giant Baidu, operates a fleet of 500 self-driving taxis in an area that covers roughly half of that population. Passengers have welcomed these robotaxis, because of the very affordable price — less than CNY1, or about US$0.14, per kilometer — as well as the novelty of this revolutionary AI travel experience.
The Data Behind Smart Transit: Each Robotaxi Uploads 100 GB of Data Per Day
Data makes autonomous driving possible. Each robotaxi is equipped with 12, 4K cameras and 8 lidars, which work together to sense and build up an image of its surroundings as it travels. It uploads all of this data and its extensive operation logs to the decision-making platform in real time, which then enables autonomous driving. This process generates a staggering 100 GB of uplink data for mobile networks each day, which is more than 200 times that of the average monthly data of usage (DOU) for 5G consumer. And this volume does not even include the data generated from interactions with passengers, such as infotainment and other smart services, which will become available in the near future. This huge volume of data shows how big an impact intelligent technology can have on mobile networks.
For Networks: Robotaxis Need Larger Uplink Bandwidth and Lower Latency
Tele-Operated Driving, an innovative autonomous driving technology developed by Apollo Go, is what makes these robotaxis so responsive to complex road conditions and emergencies. It enables remote safety officers to take control of the vehicles at any moment, and this is crucial to ensure travel safety and efficiency. Tele-Operated Driving accurately sends instructions to the vehicles almost as soon as they sense the surroundings and collect data collection. This makes the instantaneous and lossless transmission of high-definition video streams essential for Level 4 autonomous driving in urban areas. 5G networks need to provide close to 100 Mbps uplink bandwidth for real-time transfers at an end-to-end latency of below 50 milliseconds to ensure responsiveness, command accuracy, stability, and ultimately the safety of robotaxi passengers.
5.5G Networks Are the Powerful Engines That Enable Autonomous Driving
5.5G networks are being commercially deployed in 2024. Their ability to support a high uplink speed of up to 500 Mbps in addition to reliably low latency poises them to be the new engines powering autonomous driving and unleashing the full potential of driverless vehicles. 5.5G networks will enable robotaxis to transport passengers in the bustling city safely. The telecom sector’s push for wider 5.5G adoption will inject new momentum into self-driving services and drive improvements in safety, efficiency, versatility, and accessibility.
The Robotaxi Sector Is Off to a Flying Start and Shows Great Promise
Apollo Go Robotaxis has revolutionized intelligent taxi travel. To date, the company has expanded its services to 11 cities and launched commercial operations in 5 of them. More Chinese autonomous driving players are rushing to enter the market, including Shenzhen-based AutoX, Guangzhou-based Pony.ai and WeRide, and DeepRoute.ai startup. Recently, the world’s most famous electric car maker Tesla announced that it too would be joining the robotaxi sector. It is clear that autonomous driving technologies and related industries are thriving. For those of us working on the underlying mobile networks, it is a powerful reminder of the immense scale of the network requirements that the intelligent travel sector will have in the mobile AI era.
Riding strong support from the powerful mobile networks, the robotaxi sector is moving towards a promising future of smart, convenient, safe, and intelligent travel.