Author: Andrew Xu

IKEA has moved autonomous delivery vehicles developed by Neolix into permanent operation at its store in Hefei, Anhui Province, following a pilot program that significantly reduced order pickup times and logistics costs. The project was conducted by Ingka Group, the largest franchisee of the IKEA retail brand, and represents one of the more advanced deployments of Level 4 autonomous logistics vehicles in a retail environment. See also: IKEA and LC3 Trasporti Deploy Electric Trucks for Zero-Emission Freight in Italy During the trial, the autonomous vans transported customer orders from an external warehouse to the store’s pickup area and supported internal…

Chinese autonomous driving startup Momenta has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong and could seek to raise at least $1 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is working with China International Capital Corp and Deutsche Bank as advisers on the planned listing and has begun meeting investors to gauge early interest in the offering, according to the report. Momenta was valued at more than $5 billion during its latest funding round last year, the report said. The move represents a shift in the company’s listing strategy. Momenta had previously filed confidentially…

A subsidiary of Chinese automaker Changan Automobile is developing a detachable range extender designed to provide additional power for battery-electric vehicles when needed. Hunan Tianyan said it is working on a retrofittable Power Turbine Generator (PTG), a compact auxiliary power system that combines a small gas turbine, generator and power electronics to supply electricity to electric vehicles. The company said the system is intended to address situations where EV drivers may experience reduced range, such as in low temperatures, during high-speed motorway driving or when charging infrastructure is limited. Unlike integrated range extender systems commonly used in extended-range electric vehicles…

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a draft of new national safety requirements for highly automated and autonomous driving systems, targeting vehicles operating at SAE Level 3 and Level 4 automation. The rules are scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027, pending final approval. The proposed regulation would replace earlier 2024 guidelines, which were voluntary for car manufacturers and robotaxi operators. Under the new framework, compliance would become mandatory, with companies able to submit feedback on the draft until April. At the core of the new standard is the principle that a Level 3 or Level…

Pony.ai said its seventh-generation robotaxi has achieved per-vehicle profitability in Shenzhen, marking a commercial milestone for the Chinese autonomous driving company. The company announced that as of Feb. 28, its Shenzhen fleet generated average daily net revenue of 338 yuan ($49) per vehicle. The milestone follows a similar achievement in Guangzhou in November 2025, making Shenzhen the second tier-one city where Pony.ai reports per-vehicle profitability. According to the company, vehicles in Shenzhen averaged 23 daily orders per car, matching the order volume level recorded when the fleet reached break-even in Guangzhou. During the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, average daily paid…

Baidu said its autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go reached a weekly peak of more than 300,000 orders in the fourth quarter of 2025, as the company announced its entry into the South Korean market. According to Baidu’s latest earnings disclosure, Apollo Go completed 3.4 million fully driverless trips in the fourth quarter, representing year-on-year growth of more than 200%. By February 2026, cumulative global rides had surpassed 20 million. See also: Baidu, Uber and Dubai RTA Launch Apollo Go Autonomous Ride-Hailing Service The company said its autonomous fleet has logged more than 300 million kilometres of driving, including 190 million…

Chinese autonomous driving technology company MINIEYE has entered a strategic partnership with Ground Iron Green Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (DST) and vehicle maker Gecko Motors to accelerate commercialization of unmanned delivery vans, the company said in a statement on its official WeChat account. The three companies plan to jointly design, manufacture and deploy vehicle-grade autonomous logistics vehicles at scale, addressing what they describe as a persistent gap in China’s driverless delivery market. The collaboration spans the entire value chain, from technology development and mass production to commercial operations. See also: MINIEYE Signs MoU With ewpartners To Enter Middle East Autonomous…

Cao Cao Mobility, the ride-hailing arm of Geely Holding Group, said its robotaxi fleet has reached 100 vehicles as the company moves into the next phase of its autonomous mobility strategy. The 100th robotaxi began operations in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Feb. 11, marking a milestone in what the company describes as its Robotaxi 2.0 phase. During this stage, Cao Cao plans to shift gradually from vehicles equipped with safety drivers to fully autonomous operations, while also testing hybrid service models that combine human-driven and driverless vehicles. The company said it aims to validate service reliability and optimize operational processes…

Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai said on Feb. 6 that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Moore Threads, aiming to advance the large-scale deployment of Level 4 autonomous driving using domestically developed AI computing hardware. Under the agreement, the two companies will work together on training and optimizing Pony.ai’s core technologies, including its world model and virtual driver system. The collaboration will rely on Moore Threads’ MTT S5000 training-and-inference integrated computing cards and its KUAE intelligent computing cluster to support large-scale training, simulation and in-vehicle model development. See also: Pony.ai Targets Tripling Robotaxi Fleet After Achieving City-Wide Breakeven in…

Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.ai said the first mass-produced bZ4X Robotaxi developed with Toyota has rolled off the production line, marking a key step toward large-scale commercialization of autonomous ride-hailing services. The rollout signals the transition of the Pony.ai–Toyota partnership from pilot operations to scaled manufacturing. The companies plan to produce more than 1,000 bZ4X Robotaxis in 2026, with vehicles to be gradually deployed into commercial service across China’s Tier 1 cities. The move supports Pony.ai’s broader goal of expanding its robotaxi fleet to more than 3,000 vehicles. See also: SANY and Pony.ai Autonomous Heavy-Duty Truck Nears Mass Production The…

UQI, the smart logistics subsidiary of UBTECH, has completed the rollout of the first batch of its Chitu α autonomous logistics vehicles from Foxconn’s Zhengzhou New Energy Vehicle research and development center, marking the end of a key pre-production validation phase ahead of mass manufacturing. The production marked the completion of the PVT (production validation test) stage, which is designed to verify manufacturing consistency, process stability and quality traceability under conditions that simulate full-scale production. The vehicles were built within Foxconn’s automotive-grade smart manufacturing system, creating what the companies described as a closed-loop process covering assembly, inspection and delivery. During…

Xpeng is testing Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities on its yet-to-be-released GX flagship sport utility vehicle, Chinese media outlet Cailian reported on Friday, citing observations of on-road trials in the company’s home city. According to the report, a camouflaged Xpeng vehicle marked with “L4 Autonomous Driving Test” and “Caution” signage was seen undergoing testing on public roads in Guangzhou, where the automaker is headquartered. Xpeng has not publicly commented on the testing activity. See also: Xpeng Elevates AI Leadership, Reshapes Organization to Sharpen Intelligence Focus Cailian said the GX will be equipped with four of Xpeng’s in-house developed Turing AI…