It’s been 500 days since Xiaomi entered the market of smart electric vehicles and today, Xiaomi Group formally revealed the status of Xiaomi Pilot Technology‘s development. Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi shared their future plans on Twitter today. Visit Lei Jun’s Twitter profile here.
Xiaomi has assembled a big R&D team of more than 500 leading experts and expects to invest RMB 3.3 billion in the initial R&D stage of its autonomous driving technology. Xiaomi also unveiled a live road test video of its autonomous driving technology during today’s press conference, showcasing its sophisticated algorithms and ability to handle a wide range of circumstances.
Watch the video of Xiaomi’s self driving car in action from this link. “Xiaomi’s autonomous driving technology adopts a self-developed full stack approach, and the project has made progress beyond expectations,” says Lei Jun, founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi Group.
First R&D phase investment
Lei Jun said that Xiaomi has more than 500 people working on its autonomous driving technology and that it aims to spend RMB 3.3 billion on the initial R&D stage. The team is anticipated to keep expanding and have more than 600 members by the end of the year.
The team’s core members have prior experience working for some of the most recognized AI related businesses. All the technical areas required to create Xiaomi’s self-developed autonomous driving technology, including sensors, chips, algorithms, simulation, tool-chain, data platform, and more, are covered by their professional knowledge. Xiaomi’s autonomous driving unit has drawn a lot of top industry talent since its official launch last year. The 500-member department currently includes 50 industry professionals who serve as the team’s backbone. The team as a whole has a strong educational background, with more than 70% of members holding master’s or doctorate degrees.
Xiaomi has wholly acquired autonomous driving startup Shendong Technology, in order to enhance its autonomous driving. The autonomous driving team at Xiaomi focused on parking and unveiled a creative auto-parking solution that addresses situations like “reserved parking spaces,” “automated valet parking,” and “automatic robotic arm charging.” Other parking lot services will be made available in the future, and a combination of AI and service-oriented features will be added in order to comply with applicable national laws and regulations.
Lei Jun also stated that in the initial stage of the development of its autonomous driving technology, Xiaomi intends to build a fleet of 140 test vehicles. They will undergo individual testing around the country with the goal of becoming the leader in smart EV market by 2024.
In addition to using internal resources, the Xiaomi Auto team also benefits from strong support from numerous other teams within Xiaomi, including the XiaoAi AI Assistant team, the Smartphone Camera team, and the Xiaomi AI Lab. Together, these teams are working to jointly develop a cutting-edge autonomous driving experience.
What do you think about the future EVs will be made by Xiaomi? Please let us know your opinion in the comments!
