Jidu Robocar to offer full autonomous driving from 2023

Little more than a year after China's Google equivalent spun off its automotive offshoot, Jidu has teased the fully autonomous robocar it will reveal later this year ahead of mass production from 2023.

In a teaser video, the Jidu Robocar is seen equipped with a pair of scissor doors but looks entirely conventional otherwise.

But the retractable LiDAR sensors on the front fenders, which tuck away when not in use, can't hide its true beauty – pioneering driverless tech.

Already confirmed to be the first automotive application of the Nvidia Drive Orin chip, when it's launched in 2023 the Jidu Robocar will feature both greater processing power and new hardware to ensure it will possess self-driving capabilities well beyond anything else currently available.

Said to be capable of Level 4 autonomy, the Robocar will be capable of performing all driving tasks without supervision in specific geofenced areas, although the driver will still need to take control in specific circumstances.

Baidu, which developed the new tech with Volvo, is expected to be the first car-maker to offer Level 4 driving commercially, although Alphabet's Waymo already has a fleet of Level 4 prototype taxis testing in Arizona.

Set for its official debut in April at the Beijing motor show, Jidu has announced that the show car will share 90 per cent of its parts with the production car it will begin building in 2023.

As well as the Robocar, Jidu has also created a pure-electric truck that is also capable of Level 4 autonomy.

Designed by Pininfarina, the DeepWay Xingtu Electric Truck features no less than 11 onboard cameras, one infrared detector, 5mm radars and an advanced LiDAR system to ensure it can safely drive itself.

Powered by a huge 450kWh battery, the DeepWay truck will be capable of carrying up to 49 tonnes of goods over distances of around 300km when production begins in July 2023.