Shanghai (ZXZC)- Chinese autonomous driving Plus.ai announced on May 26 the J7, a Level 3 mass-produced self-driving heavy-truck it jointly developed with FAW Jiefang and Zhito (FAW Jiefang-backed dedicated to the R&D of smart car software), had completed a long-distance journey along the Silk Road.

FAW Jiefang's J7; photo credit: Plus.ai

From Suzhou to Dunhuang, the trip spans nearly 6,500 km, the longest distance ever achieved by a self-driving heavy-duty truck in the world. Armed with the PlusDrive, the self-driving system developed by Plus.ai, a FAW Jiefang J7 traveled across 38 cities during the journey, covering 7 provinces in total. Notably, the truck is required to have a professional driver and a safety engineer on seats to ensure the system's safe and proper operation.

Plus.ai said this was a crucial step for the manufacturer to get volume production permit and also tested the driving performance, safety and reliability of the autonomous driving system under extreme working conditions.

During the trip, the J7 not only handled many typical road conditions like traffic jam, road construction, slopes, and serial tunnels, but also successfully coped with more challenging scenarios, such as S-shaped bend with large curvature, 10-km tunnel, and the extreme weather like heavy rain, sand storm, and haze.

Launched in September 2021, the J7 Level 3 self-driving heavy-duty truck will lay the foundation for the Level 4 version, and will go into mass production this year. Powered by seven cameras, five millimeter wave radars and one LiDAR unit, as well as an autopilot system, the J7 is capable of automatic overtaking, lane changing, lane centering, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, obstacle avoidance and other maneuvers.

Plus.ai announced on May 10 it had entered into a definitive business combination agreement with Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V (HCIC V), a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. Upon completion of the merger, Plus.ai will go public and its common stock is expected to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “PLAV”.