Didi and GAC Aion launch roboaxi test fleet
China’s Uber equivalent, Didi, has long been working to integrate autonomous vehicles into its platform. In collaboration with Volvo, the ride-hailing service has been developing robotaxis since 2021. Following an extensive testing phase, these modified Volvo XC90 vehicles—known as the R1 in Didi’s nomenclature—have been available to the public in the megacity of Guangzhou since December 2025.
Didi is now expanding its autonomous fleet with the launch of the R2, its second robotaxi. Developed in partnership with Chinese manufacturer GAC Aion, the R2 is based on the production model Aion V and is equipped with 33 sensors. These include LiDAR, cameras, 4D millimetre-wave radar, infrared cameras, and audio sensors. The vehicle also features a computing system with triple-domain fusion and a GPU processing power exceeding 2,000 TOPS. High computing power is essential for autonomous driving, as vast amounts of data must be processed in real time to execute safe and accurate manoeuvres.
Didi already offers round-the-clock fully autonomous passenger trials in parts of Guangzhou. Over the course of the year, the new fleet is set to gradually enter demonstration service in cities such as Guangzhou and Beijing.
This marks the first robotaxi developed through a joint venture between a Chinese manufacturer and an autonomous driving company—specifically, Didi’s subsidiary, Didi Autonomous Driving. The partners will also collaborate on lifecycle management, scenario expansion, and product iteration.
“In the future, GAC Group will deepen all-around strategic cooperation with DiDi,” said Feng Xingya, Chairman of the GAC Group. “We will leverage our complementary strengths in manufacturing, R&D, mobility ecosystems, and operations to inject strong momentum into Guangzhou’s vision of becoming a ‘Smart Car City’ with a trillion-yuan industry scale by 2035.”
China is home to several key players in the robotaxi sector, all of which are also eyeing expansion into Europe. The most advanced include Baidu’s subsidiary Apollo Go, Pony.ai, and WeRide—all three have already launched commercial robotaxi services in select cities. Another notable player is Momenta, which plans to test robotaxis in Munich with Uber while also supplying advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) for Chinese models from BMW and Mercedes.
0 Comments