From October 13th to 15th, the 2026 Smart Port Technology Achievement Exhibition, jointly organized by the China Port Association and Tianjin Port (Group) Co., Ltd., will be held in Tianjin. The exhibition is an important industry exchange platform in the field of port intelligence in China, featuring the sharing of construction experience and achievements. As a pioneer in autonomous driving solutions and intelligent transportation services, Youdao Zhitu attended this exhibition and presented its full stack self-developed autonomous driving solutions, sharing practical experience in large-scale implementation.
[Image: Youdao Zhitu Exhibition]
During the construction of smart ports, the development of commercial vehicle autonomous driving has entered the fast lane
In August 2026, the General Office of the Ministry of Transport issued the "Guidelines for Smart Port Digitization Technology (First Edition)", providing technical guidance for the national port digitization upgrade. At present, China has built 60 automated container and dry bulk cargo terminals, and the construction of smart ports is moving from pilot exploration to large-scale promotion. The theme of this achievement exhibition is "Intelligent Construction and Global Collaboration, Building World Strong Ports", aiming to accelerate the promotion of new industrialization and cultivate intelligent new quality productivity in the port field.
In the construction of smart ports, the automation of horizontal transportation in ports is a key link. Among them, autonomous driving technology plays an important role, especially for a large number of traditional docks that are still in operation. How to complete the automation upgrade without interfering with normal production is a practical problem faced by the industry.
Youdao Zhitu is deeply involved in the field of commercial vehicle autonomous driving, and has achieved large-scale commercial landing in scenarios such as ports, mines, and industrial parks. Ports are its core areas of deep cultivation. Relying on the closed-loop ecosystem of "technology+product+operation", Youdao Zhitu outputs a full stack self-developed intelligent driving core and autonomous driving solutions with international competitiveness, and builds intelligent transportation service capabilities.
The product line of Youdao Zhitu covers two categories: intelligent heavy-duty trucks and AIV unmanned pure electric intelligent flatbed transport vehicles. Intelligent heavy-duty trucks are suitable for container transportation throughout the entire chain from ports to highways and ports. AIV is a L4 level pure electric intelligent horizontal transport vehicle independently developed by Youdao Zhitu for port scenarios. It adopts a cockpit free, bidirectional symmetrical design, and is equipped with a full stack self-developed intelligent driving system. It has eight wheel steering, crab lane changing, 360 ° holographic perception, and multi-sensor fusion centimeter level positioning capabilities. Vehicles do not require large-scale renovation of dock infrastructure, can efficiently mix with manual truck collection, support automatic battery swapping, and are the core carrier for low-cost intelligent transformation of traditional old docks.
In terms of business model, Youdao Zhitu has formed various forms such as full stack vehicle sales, intelligent driving kit sales, transportation services, virtual drivers, leasing, etc., and can provide flexible cooperation methods according to the different needs of the port.
At present, the autonomous driving solution of Youdao Zhitu Port has passed the large-scale operation inspection and has been applied in multiple key ports across the country. Its technical capabilities and operational scale are firmly at the forefront of the industry.
Among them, the Yangshan Port Intelligent Heavy Truck Project has achieved the normal operation of unmanned heavy-duty trucks on social roads and obtained the first batch of intelligent connected vehicle demonstration operation licenses in the country; The more than 120 AIVs put into use at Luodong Port and Hudong Port cover all scenarios, processes, and areas of port operations, and can be mixed with manned vehicles. It is a landmark project for the large-scale operation of AIV products. On this basis, the landing ports of Youdao Zhitu have been expanded to multiple port areas such as Rizhao Port, Mawan Port, Quanzhou Port, and Ningde Port, and technical adaptation has been completed for different port operating conditions.
From individual intelligence to collective intelligence, the technological foundation supports the overall collaboration of ports
The theme of this achievement exhibition, "Intelligent Construction Global Collaboration," emphasizes the efficient connection and collaborative operation of various operational links in the port. This puts forward higher requirements for the auto drive system, which needs to move from single vehicle intelligence to multi vehicle collaboration, so as to truly integrate into the port's global operation system.
The Youdao Zhitu intelligent driving system is compatible with differentiated scenarios such as ports, mines, and parks through a unified base model, achieving a set of architecture and one model that adapts to multiple scenarios and vehicle models, providing a technical foundation for cross port deployment.
On the technological roadmap, Youdao Zhitu is continuously advancing the research and development of end-to-end intelligent driving technology. The system uses a unified model to get through the complete link from multi-source perception to decision-making and planning, obtains the surrounding environment information in real time through laser radar, camera and other sensors, deduces the movement trend of vehicles, personnel and operating equipment in combination with the world model, and generates the optimal behavior decision-making and movement trajectory to meet the goals of safety, efficiency, driving smoothness, etc.
On top of the intelligent driving capability of bicycles, the technology system of Youdao Zhitu is moving from individual intelligence to collective intelligence. Through V2V real-time status sharing and global scheduling on the cloud FMS platform, the system can support the large-scale operation of multiple fleets, achieve collaborative scheduling of multiple vehicle models and on-site equipment, and move towards the theme of "intelligent structure global collaboration".
2026 is regarded by the industry as a watershed for the large-scale implementation of commercial vehicle autonomous driving. The market size of autonomous driving solutions for commercial vehicles in China is expected to reach 8.56 billion yuan in 2025 and 246.9 billion yuan in 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 85.9%. Currently, closed scenarios such as ports and mines have taken the lead in establishing a commercial closed loop. With the continuous promotion of smart port construction, the application of autonomous driving in port scenarios is expected to accelerate large-scale deployment.
