Mar. 04, 2020
Source: Investment Circle
As autonomous driving technologies continue to mature and commercial deployment progresses, the future of the industry holds significant promise.
Rino.ai, an autonomous driving company focused on last-mile instant delivery, has recently secured an additional round of investment from ZhenFund. According to CEO Lei Zhu, the funding will be primarily allocated toward product R&D and operational rollout. The company plans to achieve normalized operations within the Beijing Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone later this year and begin large-scale replication in 2021.
Currently, Rino.ai is conducting testing and pilot operations in Beijing. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the team promptly deployed its autonomous vehicles to Wuhan, where they have been voluntarily providing regular contactless delivery services within the Guanggu Fangcang Hospital.
ZhenFund was also the seed-round investor in Rino.ai when the company was founded in 2019. The follow-on investment reflects ZhenFund’s strong confidence in the Rino.ai team and its continued belief in the potential of the autonomous delivery sector. He XiongSong, Executive General Manager at ZhenFund, stated:
“After years of development, industry focus has shifted from pure technical innovation to commercialization. In the face of challenges related to technology, regulatory access, and cost, low-speed autonomous logistics vehicles deployed in closed campuses have demonstrated clear potential. This application scenario has already shown commercial value in certain environments and will likely expand rapidly as technology improves and costs decline. Rino.ai possesses strong technical capabilities and an execution-oriented team with complementary founding members. The company’s progress in technology, product development, and operations has exceeded expectations, and we look forward to seeing even more achievements from Rino.ai in the future.”
Rino.ai was founded in April 2019 by Lei Zhu, a former member of Baidu's autonomous driving team. Prior to founding Rino.ai, he co-founded another autonomous vehicle startup. Driven by his strong belief in the commercial potential of self-driving technologies in last-mile delivery, he launched Rino.ai to fully focus on this application.
By October 2019, Rino.ai had completed its first prototype vehicle and began testing in the Beijing Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone. In December, the company initiated pilot operations for instant delivery of fresh produce. During the Lunar New Year period in early 2020, Rino.ai completed over 300 autonomous deliveries for residents in the zone, covering distances of 1 to 3 kilometers per trip, with delivery times ranging from 15 to 30 minutes.
In February 2020, Rino.ai joined Baidu’s Apollo Open Platform to integrate Apollo’s vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2X) system and jointly participate in smart transportation demonstration projects across China.
In early 2020, Dr. Tian Xia, a core member of Baidu’s autonomous driving division, officially joined Rino.ai as Co-Founder and CTO. Dr. Xia, formerly a T9-level technical expert at Baidu, was instrumental in building Baidu’s deep learning system for autonomous vehicles and was honored with Baidu’s highest internal engineering award. His hands-on experience spans L3 and L4 autonomy, Robo-Taxi platforms, V2X infrastructure, and smart mobility. His addition to the team significantly strengthens Rino.ai’s technical foundation and accelerates progress in R&D, product development, and project execution.
Rino.ai’s autonomous vehicle reaches a top speed of 25 km/h and utilizes a robust multi-sensor fusion system that includes high-resolution LiDAR, short-range LiDAR, cameras, and ultrasonic sensors. Compared to conventional low-speed autonomous delivery robots, which typically operate at speeds around 10 km/h, Rino.ai’s solution offers higher delivery efficiency, increased technical complexity, and greater scalability to support future deployments on open roads at higher speeds.
Lei Zhu and his operations team bring extensive experience in last-mile logistics and autonomous delivery systems, while Dr. Xia leads a technically sophisticated R&D team. Commenting on the company’s core strategy, Lei Zhu stated:
“Rino.ai is fully committed to last-mile instant autonomous delivery. We develop our products by balancing real-world customer needs and advanced technical capabilities. Our dual emphasis on operations and technology ensures a focused and effective R&D process that accelerates commercialization.”
Dr. Xia added:
“AI technologies, especially those based on deep learning, are not yet capable of fully replacing human drivers on high-speed roads. However, last-mile instant delivery represents the most feasible and valuable near-term application of autonomous driving. We believe Rino.ai can establish multiple pilot zones within a year and achieve national-scale deployment within three years.”
The road to commercializing autonomous driving is long and challenging. While some perceive a “winter” in the industry, ZhenFund sees the current phase as one of both challenge and opportunity. With strong conviction in the sector’s long-term potential, ZhenFund continues to invest strategically and provide post-investment support through industrial partnerships and talent networks.
To date, ZhenFund has invested in multiple L4-level autonomous driving companies across sectors such as low-speed logistics and unmanned mining transport. These companies maintain collaborative and complementary relationships. As the technology matures and commercialization accelerates, the future of the autonomous driving industry remains highly promising.
