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AutoX opened its first US facility in San Francisco. | Source: AutoX

AutoX’s fleet of autonomous robotaxis has surpassed 1,000 vehicles. The company also recently opened a robotaxi operations center in San Francisco. This is the company’s first robotaxi operations center outside of China.

AutoX has already conducted testing in San Jose, California, and its center in San Francisco facilitates further testing. Currently, the company is testing in San Francisco, and in China in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing.

The company obtained a permit to test its autonomous vehicles without safety drivers from the California DMV in July 2020. It was the third company to receive a driverless testing permit in the state. It has been able to test with safety drivers since 2017.

AutoX joins a host of other companies testing in San Francisco. Earlier this month, Cruise opened its driverless robotaxi service to the public in the city. Waymo has also been testing its robotaxi service in San Francisco.

“We want to deploy the AutoX robotaxi fleet in many cities to serve hundreds of millions of people, as well to improve and become a part of communities around the world,” Jianxiong Xiao, founder and CEO of AutoX, said. “Cities such as San Francisco, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing are the launchpads for RoboTaxis to transform people’s daily lives. And that’s just the beginning.”

AutoX operates a robotaxi service in an over 386 square mile area in Shenzhen. For most of that area, a safety driver is required. Its taxis operate without safety drivers in a 65 square mile area in the city.

In July 2021, AutoX unveiled its Gen5 self-driving system. The system involves two main sensor towers that sit on top of the vehicle, and a suite of blind spot sensors. The vehicle’s computing unit, the AutoX XCU, sits under the trunk bed of the car and powers the autonomous driving software stack.

Also in July, the company opened a dedicated production facility in Shanghai. According to the company, it’s the first dedicated autonomous vehicle facility in China.