[250725] #Pony.ai #Xiaomi #Beep

1. Beep begins operating NAVI: Nation’s first fully autonomous public transit system

• Beep, Inc. has begun operating the U.S.’s first fully autonomous public transportation system, NAVI, in Jacksonville, Florida, under a five-year O&M contract with the Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA).

• NAVI is part of JTA’s broader Ultimate Urban Circulator (U2C) program and features a fleet of 14 Ford E-Transit electric AVs integrated with Oxa’s automated driving system (ADS).

• Beep’s proprietary AutonomOS™ platform enables AV-agnostic fleet orchestration, vehicle supervision, and integrated command center management via JTA’s new Autonomous Innovation Center (AIC).

• The autonomous fleet operates along a 3.5-mile Bay Street Innovation Corridor, with 12 stops across key downtown districts, offering first- and last-mile solutions.

• All vehicles are Buy America and ADA compliant, designed for public use and equipped to enhance safety, access, and efficiency in urban transit.

• Beep secured $52.7 million in funding, co-led by Intel Capital and Blue Lagoon Capital, bringing its total capital raised to $97.7 million.

• Beep has previously managed 38 AV shuttle deployments in 9 states, positioning itself as a vehicle-agnostic operator focused on public shared transit over single-rider models.

• Kevin Reid, Beep’s Chairman, now also serves as CEO, leading its expansion into key markets and development of scalable AV public transit systems.

2. Xiaomi rolls out its 10 million-clip HAD system and safety

• Xiaomi’s YU7 will launch with its latest end-to-end HAD assisted driving system, built on NVIDIA’s Thor platform and equipped with lidar, radar, 11 HD cameras, and 12 ultrasonic sensors for robust perception and future-proof compute (700 TOPS).

• The new HAD stack is trained on 10 million Clips, surpassing the previous 3 million Clip version, offering improved decision-making and smoother longitudinal control.

• Xiaomi claims a 57% improvement in comfort (smoother acceleration/braking), a 67% boost in detour success, and 23% better intersection navigation based on refined neural policy training.

• A Clip refers to a 30s–1min sensor-rich video used to train the HAD model; Xiaomi emphasizes data quality by sourcing Clips only from professional drivers using a 20+ point safety and comfort rubric.

• Clips undergo automated cloud validation to filter out unsafe or noncompliant data and are semantically tagged to accelerate model improvement.

• Xiaomi uses a “wrong-answer notebook” method for failure remediation, targeting edge cases like obscured roundabout lanes with tagged training Clips to improve specific scenarios.

• Over 400 test vehicles and 1,800 staff support the effort, backed by 5.79 billion yuan in R&D funding, and enhanced by Xiaomi’s internal MiMo foundation model and academic partnerships.

• Xiaomi clarifies HAD is assisted, not fully autonomous driving, and drivers must remain engaged; updates to existing SU7 vehicles will begin OTA in late July.

3. Pony.ai begins Robotaxi road tests in Luxembour

• Pony.ai has begun road testing its Robotaxi fleet in Luxembourg in partnership with local mobility provider Emile Weber.

• The testing marks a major milestone in Pony.ai ‘s global expansion strategy and international ecosystem development.

• Initial trials are underway in Lenningen and will gradually expand nationwide to support localized deployment.

• Emile Weber is providing operational support and data to accelerate Pony.ai ’s regional adaptation and service rollout.

• Pony.ai received one of Luxembourg’s first Robotaxi testing permits in April from the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works.

• The company previously set up a European R&D center in Luxembourg to advance autonomous vehicle innovation.

• Pony.ai is collaborating with public and commercial entities to shape technological and regulatory frameworks in Luxembourg.

• Globally, the company has logged over 45 million km in autonomous testing and maintains a 2,000 km² operational footprint in China.

4. Qatar begins trials of self-driving electric taxis in push for smart mobility

• Qatar has initiated operational trials of Level 4 self-driving electric taxis as part of its Autonomous Vehicles Strategy.

• The program is led by Mowasalat (Karwa) in partnership with the Ministry of Transport.

• Trials will be conducted in two phases: unmanned runs for performance monitoring, followed by passenger-carrying operations without drivers through early 2026.

• Each taxi is equipped with six medium and long-range cameras, four radar sensors, and four LiDAR units to enable safe navigation in complex urban settings.

• This effort builds upon Qatar’s previous autonomous electric bus trials, advancing sustainable and AI-powered public transport solutions.

• The trials will also inform future regulations and infrastructure development to support autonomous mobility.

• Qatar aims to strengthen its position as a regional leader in smart transport innovation through this initiative.

5. China’s CalmCar bags 500 million yuan in Series D to accelerate national Robotaxi deployment

• Suzhou CalmCar completed a ¥500 million (~$69M) Series D funding round to accelerate nationwide Robotaxi rollout in China.

• Investors include state-owned industrial funds and major tech players, with follow-on participation from ZF, SAIC Motor, and BAIC Group.

• The funding builds a full-spectrum autonomous driving ecosystem integrating AI model developers, 5G partners, global Tier 1 suppliers, OEMs, and local governments.

• CalmCar plans to strengthen its L4 Robotaxi and Robobus deployment in complex urban environments with government-supported pilot scenarios.

• R&D efforts will benefit from tighter collaboration with upstream hardware and AI partners for faster iterations of autonomous driving systems.

• Mass production will be facilitated through partnerships with Tier 1s and automakers to commercialize mid-to-high-level ADAS solutions.

• The company aims to create a closed-loop business model spanning both Robotaxi and Robobus operations.

• CEO Wang Xi stated the financing validates CalmCar’s autonomous technology roadmap and reinforces its focus on sustainable intelligent mobility.