Robots, AI and autonomous taxis: a technological journey in Shanghai
A white car approached me, under the summer rain of Shanghai. While holding the umbrella with one hand, with the other I took out my phone. "Unlock the taxi door," a notification told me. I pressed accept and entered the vehicle. In front of me, I had a screen where a cartoon character told me the steps to follow: confirm your identity, put on your seatbelt. The taxi started smoothly. Under the heavy rain, the vehicle took turns, calmly overtaking other cars. I looked at the front. The driver's seat was empty. But the steering wheel turned as if guided by the most graceful of drivers. I had gotten into one of the autonomous taxis that the company Pony.ai had deployed in Shanghai.
A few days earlier, on my way to my hotel, a (human) taxi driver explained to me that most new vehicles in Shanghai are already electric and sang me the praises of artificial intelligence. Parking lots were being automated and were faster; I could ask Doubao, the AI of Douyin (owner of TikTok), anything, which almost no one knows in the West and is the most used in China. In the following days, I spoke with about ten more Chinese people and, in general, their view of artificial intelligence was optimistic. In China, they told me, when there is a technological novelty, everyone rushes to try it, without thinking too much about it. Technological advances are linked to the great development the country has experienced. The fact that everyone can have a refrigerator and a television, can ride a high-speed train, or can receive online orders by drones, is part of the same techno-optimistic story.
"Embodied intelligence"
A few days later, in front of me, there was a dog-shaped robot jumping, and a humanoid one dancing in the style of Michael Jackson. Behind them, a video showed a boxing match between two robots from the company Unitree. It all had a comical touch. But the same technology that allows dancing breakdance a robot can perform precise, complex, and dangerous industrial tasks. The goal is to combine these robots with AI to create an "embodied intelligence," in which the robot can learn from its physical environment. A couple of days later, they showed me a drone that could dodge obstacles while filming an influencer on a bicycle. I thought about how many of these aerial robots ended up on the battlefields of Ukraine.
All these ultra-futuristic scenes are not representative of most of China. Most of the country's productive fabric is still poorly digitized. Cloud technology adoption is low. Companies complain that do not have enough chips because of American sanctions. Everyone acknowledges that there has been a lot of development, but also that there is still a lot to be done. In part, Chinese techno-futurism is a reflection of China's current dual economy: a powerful technology sector that leads the way and the rest of the economy which is now growing slower and with more unemployment than in previous years. I looked out the window again: on each lamppost, a red poster asked to "fervently" celebrate the 105th anniversary of the Communist Party.