Feb. 19, 2020
Source: 36Kr
Several last-mile autonomous delivery vehicles developed by Rino.ai are currently undergoing testing and pilot operations in the Zhongguancun Environmental Protection Park, Beijing.
Rino.ai was founded by a group of former Baidu autonomous driving team members, who were part of Baidu’s pioneering efforts in self-driving technology. Over the years, former members of Baidu’s Institute of Deep Learning (IDL) and autonomous vehicle division have gone on to establish startups across the autonomous driving value chain, including Pony.ai, WeRide, HoloMatic, Horizon Robotics, DeepMap, and Innovusion.
36Kr recently spoke with Rino.ai, a firm founded by former members of Baidu’s autonomous-driving team. In early 2020, Dr. Tian Xia, former Chief Architect and Head of Visual Perception for Baidu’s Autonomous Driving Unit, joined Rino.ai as Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Dr. Xia holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China and a Ph.D. from the Institute of Computing Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He joined Baidu in April 2012, where he participated in the development of L3 and L4 autonomous driving and V2X (vehicle-to-everything) collaboration systems. He was also a founding member of Baidu IDL and led the creation of Baidu’s deep learning framework for autonomous vehicles. In 2014, he received Baidu’s highest engineering honor: the Million Dollar Award.
Dr. Xia stated that while Robo-Taxi projects face long development cycles due to their complex scenarios and frequent “corner cases,” current AI technologies—particularly deep learning—are still not mature enough to fully replace human drivers. However, existing autonomous driving technologies are well-suited for specific application scenarios with strong market demand, such as last-mile delivery. He believes that autonomous delivery services could be rolled out in pilot zones within a year and achieve large-scale commercial deployment across China within three years.
Rather than solely pursuing cutting-edge technologies, Rino.ai takes a practical approach by compensating for technical limitations with strong operational capabilities. Their R&D is driven by both technical performance and real product requirements to accelerate commercialization. Compared to standard parcel delivery, instant delivery of fresh produce and groceries has higher time-sensitivity requirements—making it an ideal application for autonomous delivery vehicles. The team’s experience in developing Robo-Taxi platforms (which typically operate at speeds around 40 km/h) translates well into this scenario.
Rino.ai’s delivery vehicles—approximately 1 meter wide and 2 to 3 meters long—are currently operating in the Zhongguancun Environmental Protection Park, a 4-square-kilometer pilot zone within the Beijing Autonomous Driving Demonstration Area. This zone includes various traffic conditions such as open municipal roads, intersections, traffic lights, internal roads, office complexes, and residential neighborhoods.
The autonomous vehicles operate at a maximum speed of 25 km/h and typically complete delivery routes of 1 to 3 kilometers in 15 to 30 minutes. Since the Lunar New Year holiday, the vehicles have successfully completed over 300 deliveries, many involving high-value fresh produce. After users place an order via an online platform, they receive an SMS notification when the delivery vehicle arrives. Customers can then retrieve their goods by entering a code or scanning a QR code on the vehicle.
Commenting on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Xia noted that while the pandemic may not directly accelerate the development of autonomous driving technologies—which follow their own technical trajectory—it has significantly increased demand for contactless delivery, thereby expediting the alignment between existing technologies and real-world application needs.
Rino.ai’s multi-sensor fusion solution integrates high-resolution LiDAR, short-range LiDAR, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors. The company plans to reduce the overall vehicle cost to below RMB 80,000 (approximately USD 12,000) by 2021.
In the near term, Rino.ai will continue regular operations within the Environmental Protection Park and aims to scale its deployment starting in 2021.
As for the company name, Dr. Xia explained: “The rhino horn symbolizes focus—our team is fully dedicated to the last-mile delivery vehicle segment. Among the five existing rhino species, the Rino.ai is not only the one whose speed most closely resembles our delivery robots, but also the only one that prefers living in herds. We aspire to become the ‘Rino.ai’ of the autonomous driving industry—focused, efficient, and scalable.”
