Ordos in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region has been striving to take the lead in the intelligent connected vehicle industry by improving its policy system and increasing support in areas such as innovation, R&D (research and development), demonstration applications, and infrastructure construction.

In recent years, Ordos has built a "vehicle-road-cloud integration" model around freight logistics, smart mines, and cultural tourism services.

The city's foundation in the new energy intelligent connected vehicle industry and policy advantages have helped introduce several leading enterprises in autonomous driving, including KargoBot.ai (KargoBot), Mogo.ai, and Tsingcloud. 

In 2024, Ordos was awarded the titles of Intelligent Transportation Pilot Application and "Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration" Application Pilot, becoming the first city in Inner Mongolia and the only city in Northwest China to be selected for both pilot programs.

KargoBot's intelligent connected heavy truck. [Photo provided to investordos.goinnermongolia.com.cn]

KargoBot, in the city's Otog High-tech Industrial Development Zone, has significantly improved transportation efficiency by 10 percent, reduced energy costs by 20 percent, and cut costs by 50 percent thanks to its strong data processing capabilities and intelligent dispatching advantages. 

The massive data generated during operations provides experience and a basis for continuously iterating and upgrading autonomous driving technology, promoting its continuous development.

Since establishing its global innovation and R&D headquarters in Ordos, KargoBot has developed to be tailored to the city's abundant coal resources and large volumes of transported goods. It has deployed nearly 300 intelligent connected heavy trucks in trunk logistics and point-to-point medium and short-distance freight transportation scenarios, and the mileage of bulk commodity transportation has reached 100 million ton-kilometers, achieving the regular operation of heavy truck logistics convoys.

Shi Xiaoling, the operation director of KargoBot, expects this to make Ordos a global benchmark city for autonomous freight transportation.

"In addition to the Otog High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the city's other districts and banners also focus on creating application scenarios for intelligent connected heavy and mining trucks, in an effort to develop a city-level application pilot benchmark with the same architecture, unified standards, business interconnection, and reliable security," said Jin Haode, deputy director of the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Industry Service Center of the Ordos municipal bureau of industry and information technology.