On one hand, multiple cities are constantly expanding their testing areas, and on the other hand, there are occasional voices suggesting that autonomous taxi services are exacerbating traffic congestion. Autonomous taxi operations are facing growing challenges.
Recently, on the Wuhan city message board and online, some netizens have reported problems such as fast and slow running speed of radishes, and vehicles being stuck on the road.
On May 27th, a reporter from the Daily Economic News found that the speed of the Carrot Run vehicle was indeed slower. A driver told reporters that running carrots during peak hours in the morning and evening will to some extent exacerbate traffic congestion.
Regarding relevant issues, on the evening of May 29th, the official Weibo account of Carrot Run Autonomous Driving issued a statement stating that it had reported the case to the public security organs as soon as possible, and currently the public security organs have initiated an investigation. According to the report from Pengpai News, a joint working group has been established by the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Public Security Bureau, and Transportation Bureau to supervise the issues related to carrot fast running reported by citizens.
Weibo screenshot
According to the analysis made by several industry experts when interviewed by the reporter, the recent increase in the voice of roast about turnip fast running may be mainly due to the fact that the automatic driving technology still needs to be further improved. In addition, Wuhan's turnip fast running is in the forefront of China, with a large scope of operation.
Reporter's experience of Carrot Run: The speed is relatively slow, but there are no violations such as changing lanes with solid lines
"Sudden lane change caused traffic jam", "green light stopped, red light rushed to the middle of the road", "illegal stop", "slow driving even turtle speed" Recently, on the message board and network of Wuhan city, there were some voices of roast about carrots running fast.
Carrot Run is an autonomous driving travel service platform brought by Baidu Apollo. With the continuous promotion in the past two years, the service area of Carrot Run in Wuhan has exceeded 3000 square kilometers, covering a population of 7.7 million; More than 500 vehicles were deployed, with over 300 unmanned vehicles.
This means that the autonomous vehicles of Carrot Run have already entered most of Wuhan, and the figures of Carrot Run vehicles can be seen on the streets and alleys. So, what is the operating condition of the Carrot Run vehicle?
On the afternoon of May 27th, a reporter from the Daily Economic News arrived at Zhangjiawan Metro Station located on Fengsheng Road in Hongshan District, Wuhan City. According to the two taxi apps, Carrot Run and Didi Chuxing, there are three route options from Exit C of Zhangjiawan Metro Station to Liqiao District 2. According to Didi Chuxing, the first recommended route is expected to cover a total distance of 6.1 kilometers and take 11 minutes; The Carrot Run only has one route, and the destination cannot be Li Qiao Zone 2. The only exit point is Huihui Circuit, which is about 300 meters away from the destination, or the southwest gate of Jianghong Logistics Industrial Park, which is about 480 meters away from the destination. The expected total distance is 10.9 kilometers, taking 34 minutes, which is 23 minutes longer than Didi's departure.
APP screenshot
Through experience, it took the reporter 22 minutes to ride the Carrot Run, with an actual mileage of 8.2 kilometers. The cost was approximately 9.5 yuan after discounts such as event deductions. On the return trip, the reporter chose Didi for travel, which took about 10 minutes and cost about 13 yuan. Compared to Didi Chuxing, Carrot Run takes longer, but the current cost is slightly lower.
When riding the Carrot Run, the reporter found that the vehicle's driving speed was significantly lower than other vehicles on the road, mostly maintaining a speed of 30 to 40 kilometers per hour. At the same time, there was a noticeable deceleration operation when encountering pedestrians or vehicles approaching in other lanes. But the reporter did not find any situations such as changing lanes on solid lines, causing congestion, or long-term violations of parking.
On the return journey, the Didi ride hailing driver told the reporter that vehicles with Carrot Run started to appear on Fengsheng Road in April this year, which will affect traffic during peak hours. The main reason is that the vehicles are traveling slowly, causing other vehicles to be slow as well. A slight deviation from other vehicles can also cause the Carrot Run vehicle to stop.
At 7pm on the evening of the 27th during peak hours, the reporter placed an order again through the Carrot Run app, and the waiting time significantly increased. During the journey of about 2 kilometers from Fengsheng Road to Baishazhou Avenue, it was observed that the speed of the Carrot Run vehicle on the road was relatively slow, which to some extent affected the traffic speed, but did not cause congestion.
Expert: Urban operation of autonomous driving still needs to be summarized and promoted simultaneously
In response to the recent news on the internet about Carrot Run, on May 27th, the Management Committee of Wuhan Donghu New Technology Development Zone replied, "As an intelligent networking testing point, our district has unmanned vehicles passing and testing throughout the jurisdiction. After investigation, all unmanned Carrot Run vehicles on the road have obtained testing and operation licenses in accordance with regulations, which comply with road regulations. As a new phenomenon, unmanned driving is gradually improving and promoting. Our team will provide feedback to relevant departments to optimize the unmanned driving system and ensure good traffic order on road sections. At the same time, when we discover congestion, our team will immediately go to the congestion point to guide and maintain a good traffic environment."
On May 13th, the Wuhan Transportation Bureau also responded that the transportation department had reported the situation to the platform and urged the platform to handle it. The platform stated that it would try to avoid driving during morning and evening rush hours.
According to a report by Pengpai News, the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, Public Security Bureau, and Transportation Bureau have established a joint working group to supervise the issues related to carrot fast running reported by citizens.
On May 28th, Professor Zhu Xichan from the School of Automotive Engineering at Tongji University analyzed in an interview with the Daily Economic News that the current technology of autonomous driving is not mature enough, such as the issue of inaccurate vehicle positioning reported by users, which is mainly related to the accuracy of positioning and map matching sent by mobile phones. In addition, unmanned autonomous vehicles also have room for improvement in human-machine interaction.
"Autonomous vehicles are generally located through latitude and longitude, and passengers do not know the latitude and longitude of the boarding point, so they are accustomed to using the relative positioning method of iconic buildings." Zhu Xichan analyzed that when there is a difference in positioning between the two parties, if it is a regular taxi or ride hailing service, they can communicate by phone. But without a safety officer, communication between autonomous vehicles and users becomes more difficult.
Regarding the issue of incorrect recognition of traffic lights, Zhu Xichan analyzed two possibilities: autonomous vehicles may recognize traffic lights through cameras, but sometimes they may be obstructed by obstacles such as tree branches; Additionally, it is possible to estimate the changes in traffic lights through estimation, but there may be algorithmic errors or errors in estimating the status of traffic lights, resulting in autonomous vehicles running red lights. In addition, Zhu Xichan also analyzed that in order to ensure safety, driverless vehicles (vehicles) show a conservative strategy when encountering pedestrians and bicycles, while human drivers tend to quickly avoid pedestrians and bicycles.
Is the current problem of Carrot Run in Wuhan an isolated case? "These issues are also present in other cities, but Wuhan may be more prominent." On May 27th, Zhang Xiang, director of the Vodafu Digital Automotive International Cooperation Research Center, told reporters through WeChat that Wuhan's Carrot Run is at the forefront of China, and the larger the scale, the more problems will arise. The traffic scenes in each city are different, and the data collected and models trained in other cities still need to be adapted.
In Zhang Xiang's view, the most ideal state for autonomous driving is the separation of people and vehicles, with closed roads. However, at present, this level cannot be achieved. Most intelligent driving vehicles operate in some development zones and suburbs, with fewer vehicles or people on the roads. As for the operation mode in urban areas like Wuhan, it is still in the stage of exploring, summarizing, and promoting.
How far is the large-scale application of autonomous driving to expand testing areas in multiple regions?
As a traditional automotive industry hub, Wuhan ranks among the top in autonomous driving among major cities.
According to a report by Changjiang Daily in January this year, the person in charge of the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (Wuhan) Test Demonstration Zone stated that based on the number and order volume of autonomous driving travel service vehicles operating normally, as well as core data such as open road mileage and area, Wuhan has become the world's largest autonomous driving operation service area.
The above report also shows that Wuhan has issued over 1800 autonomous driving road testing and operation licenses, attracting 491 intelligent connected vehicles from 19 companies such as Dongfeng Yuexiang and Baidu Luobo Yunli to undergo regular testing and operation.
In fact, not only Wuhan, but also major cities in China have recently expanded their testing areas for autonomous driving. For example, Hangzhou officially opened a total of 3474 square kilometers in the eight urban areas of the city as a testing and application area for intelligent connected vehicles starting from May 1st; Shenzhen has added 43 new open roads, with a total length of 106.01 kilometers, bringing the total length of autonomous driving open roads in the city to 944 kilometers.
"The development of any new technology requires a process." Zhu Xishan believes that the development of autonomous driving is the trend, and the following issues need to be paid attention to in the process of technological development: on the one hand, it is recommended that car companies do not pursue too much promotion quantity and speed. Currently, more energy should be focused on technology research and development to solve various details in operation and improve user experience; On the other hand, it is suggested that government departments can provide appropriate subsidies to car companies, but there should be some control over the amount. Due to the temptation of high subsidies, companies promoting too quickly may lead to more concentrated outbreaks of problems.
In addition, some traffic regulations in China are relatively flexible at present. For example, in the case of speeding, if the speed does not exceed a certain range, the driver often does not receive substantial punishment. Therefore, when there is less traffic on the elevated road, vehicles in reality generally tend to exceed the speed limit. At this point, autonomous vehicles, like regular vehicles, are speeding or strictly following traffic rules, which is another question mark.
Regarding the operation of autonomous vehicles, some netizens have suggested that vehicles can avoid peak hours in the morning and evening. Zhu Xichan believes that this is not the fundamental solution to the problem. From the perspective of technological progress, autonomous vehicles can only discover problems and further improve through repeated testing during peak hours in the morning and evening.
On the evening of May 29th, the official Weibo account of Carrot Run Autonomous Driving released a statement stating that after verification and evidence collection, the content of online complaints was confirmed to be seriously inconsistent with the facts. Baidu has reported the case to the public security organs as soon as possible. At present, the public security organs have initiated investigations.
