IM Motors, SAIC and Alibaba-backed EV brand, shows off muscles in self-driving-CnEVPost

Self-driving capabilities are a focal point of the competition among China's emerging car companies. IM Motors, a premium electric vehicle brand jointly built by SAIC, China's largest car company, and e-commerce giant Alibaba, has just shown off its strong capabilities.

According to a video released by SAIC on Wednesday, IM Motors' first model, the L7, underwent 40 minutes of continuous, zero-intervention autonomous driving in downtown Shanghai. The model will be delivered in the first half of 2022.

The video shows the engineering test vehicle departing from Weihai Road in downtown Shanghai and passing through regular roads as well as elevated roads, all in autonomous driving mode.

The test section includes both urban and elevated sections, covering the full range of daily urban driving scenarios.

The test included complex road conditions and scenarios such as merging onto elevated roads, switching Y-junctions, identifying old and new lanes, getting off-ramps at high volume intersections, and avoiding illegal vehicles.

The car's IM AD autonomous driving system is capable of handling all of these scenarios with ease.

You can find the video here:

https://weibo.com/tv/show/1034:4651458872934434?from=old_pc_videoshow

IM Motors is an electric vehicle brand jointly invested by SAIC Group, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech and Alibaba, and has developed the IM AD autonomous driving system in collaboration with autonomous driving company Momenta.

The IM L7 was available for pre-order during the Shanghai Auto Show in April, and the first 3,000 people who pre-ordered it were called "angel round users.

At the end of April, IM Motors announced a pre-sale price of RMB 408,800 ($62,821) for the "angel wheel version" of the L7.

IM L7 is equipped with 12 cameras, 5 millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars and high precision maps, and has a reserved LiDAR interface.

IM Motors names first offerings of its L7 model 'Angel Investment Edition,' priced at about $62,800

IM Motors, SAIC and Alibaba-backed EV brand, shows off muscles in self-driving-CnEVPost

(Source: SAIC)