DeepWay, a joint venture of Baidu Inc (a Chinese internet giant) and Lionbridge (a vehicle and logistics financier), unveiled Xingtu, a smart new energy heavy-duty truck, on September 17, 2021. The truck has been designed by Pininfarina’s Shanghai team and is powered by the Baidu Apollo autonomous driving platform. The launch marks Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc’s entry into the global freight market.

The first generation of Xingtu is set to take the automobile sector by storm as it promises extraordinary features. It is designed to enable L3 self-driving on high-speed freight routes. Xingtu can create power of around 500 TOPS and has ultra-long distance sensing capabilities beyond one kilometre. The truck is loaded with Baidu’s AI technology stack and has four main AI advantages — deep performance, deep design, deep intelligence and deep space. Xingtu has 10 onboard cameras, three infrared detectors and five millimetre-wave radars.

According to DeepWay, the truck’s 450 kWh battery pack can deliver 300 kilometres on a single charge, and it gets recharged in an hour’s time. Other features include an intelligent voice assistant, a touch-screen infotainment system as well as comfortable seats and beds for travellers.

DeepWay is targeting June 2023 for mass production of the Xingtu, and as of the first half of 2021, Baidu’s self-driving travel service has tested around 14 million kilometres.