Chinese autonomous driving startup Utopilot shared its commercial development trajectory and experiences at this year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference, or WAIC, which was held in East China's Shanghai on July 6-8.

Zhang Xianhong, chief architect of the company, said autonomous driving had well and truly entered the stage of commercialization, advancing from the engineering verification stage, thanks to marked technological progress and policy support.

Being "Truly unmanned" was key to the commercialization of autonomous driving and achieving large-scale implementation, Zhang noted.

Utopilot's Zhang Xianhong gives a presentation during the conference in Shanghai. [Photo/WeChat ID: shlgguanweihui]

According to Zhang, with leading full stack self-developed intelligent driving technology and resource advantages in the industry supply chain, Utopilot has made substantial breakthroughs in several mainstream applications scenarios – such as at ports, mining sites and with logistics and sanitation vehicles.

Utopilot was among four enterprises to be included in China's first batch of national autonomous driving test licenses issued for 15 vehicles in Shanghai's Lin-gang Special Area in June.

Legally conducting tests without a driver marks a turning point in the commercialization of autonomous driving.

Zhang added that road testing was fundamentally necessary for the evolution of autonomous driving technology and product implementation, while achieving a "truly unmanned" status was the bridge to the commercialization of the technology.

Moving forwards, plans are for the company to continue to focus on all scenarios with commercial value in the field of autonomous driving. It will also seek to pool and increase its strategic financial capital, integrate industry supply chain resources and strive to become a top player in the industry.