QCraft’s Prototype Autonomous Car to Start Road Tests in Q3 With Journey 5 Chips

Self-driving vehicle technology firm QCraft has announced on August 25 that its prototype car based on Horizon Robotics’ Journey 5 chips is expected to carry out road tests in the third quarter of this year.

In May, QCraft and Horizon Robotics reached a strategic partnership agreement. The two sides jointly develop and adapt products based on the integrated solutions developed by QCraft and the Journey series of AI chips developed by Horizon Robotics, jointly creating high-level automated driving mass production solutions.

Journey 5 is a high-performance, high-computing-power auto-grade AI chip built by Horizon Robotics specially for high-level automated driving applications. The AI computing power of a single chip can reach up to 128 TOPS, while the real AI performance can reach 1531 FPS. It supports 16-channel camera perception and computing requirements of multi-sensor fusion, prediction, planning and control required for automated driving.

At present, the urban NOA solution launched by QCraft, equipped with Journey 5 chips, is scheduled to open up trial rides to the public in October 2022. By 2023, the high-level automated driving solution of QCraft based on Journey 5 chips will reach mass production.

According to the cooperation agreement, QCraft and Horizon Robotics will also focus on an Advanced Driving Assistance System (ADAS), automated driving, intelligent human-computer interaction, AI capacity building and other aspects in the field of mass production of factory-installed passenger cars. Horizon Robotics will provide a smart car solution based on its “Chip + AI Development Platform,” and support the diversified needs of QCraft for the landing of intelligent driving technology in the whole scenario through technologies such as auto-grade AI chips, a vehicle-mounted computing platform, sensing and human-computer interaction.

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In addition, based on its cooperation with Horizon Robotics and other strategic partners, QCraft has proposed that “the mass production cost of 10,000 yuan [$1,459] can also provide the industry with a cost-effective automated driving solution.” This set of solutions for auto-grade factory-installed mass production offers different configuration versions according to various requirements. It can meet the needs of sedans, SUVs, MPVs, minibuses and other models, and is suitable for various functions such as autonomous lane changes, autonomous overtaking, U-turns, ramp recognition, ramp avoidance, lane coordination, and emergency braking.