It’s less than two days until our first annual Urban Autonomy Summit, presented by Nexar, on October 8th, at Newlab in Brooklyn. We’re down to just a few spots, so this is your last chance to apply and make sure you don’t miss out on the action. Register here to secure your spot!

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and Substack. We now have transcripts available too (Click on the “transcripts” button in the top right corner of this post to access them).

In today’s episode, I’m speaking with Dimitri Strobbe, Director of Road Maintenance at the Brussels Capital Region, who recently joined a study tour in China, testing autonomous vehicles from major local players and engaging with industry leaders to see firsthand how the technology is developing abroad. We discussed the study tour and the impetus behind it, as well as his interactions with Chinese autonomous vehicle companies and executives. He also talked about his experience testing various AV products from companies like Pony.ai, Baidu, Xpeng, and Huawei, and how these experiences measured up to his expectations.

Dimitri dove into some of the things that stood out in Chinese society, including urban infrastructure and technological shocks he experienced during the study tour, as well as his interactions with Chinese AVs and society. He discussed the differences in transparency between Chinese AV companies and American ones like Waymo, and wrapped up with some lessons learned from the trip.

Chapters

(00:00) Introduction to Dimitri Strobbe

(02:02) Details of the China study tour

(03:35) The impetus for the China Study Tour

(06:55) How transparent were Chinese AV companies?

(7:57) Which AV companies did you interact with in China?

(08:42) What was the experience riding Chinese robotaxis and Robobuses?

(11:25) What stood out with the robotaxis

(14:19) Expectations vs reality

(17:35) High-level AV executive interactions in China

(20:35) What stood out with the Chinese society

(23:16) Urban infrastructure shocks

(24:28) Automation of AV maintenance/charging in China

(25:26) DiDi’s giant AV strides

(26:39) Take-home lessons from the China study tour

(32:20) Conclusion and final thoughts

Notes/Links:

* Apply to attend our Urban Autonomy Summit here

* Itinerary for the China study tour (link).

* Dimitri’s first/second post about the China Study Tour.

* Jacco’s post on Neolix’s autonomous cargo delivery robots from the Study Tour (he was another participant).

* Pieter’s video of Chinese AVs demonstrating autonomous maintenance and charging (he was another participant of the Study Tour)

- Harry

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Lessons Learned From Testing All of China's Major Robotaxis (Dimitri Strobbe)

The Driverless Digest Podcast

Lessons Learned From Testing All of China's Major Robotaxis (Dimitri Strobbe)