Auto China shows Level 4 demos
- Auto China 2026 opened in Beijing on April 24 with Geely unveiling its Eva Cab Level 4 robotaxi and Chinese brands pushing AI-heavy vehicle systems. - Show organizers said 1,451 vehicles and 181 global debuts were on display, while Alibaba said BYD, Geely and seven peers adopted Qwen. - The show’s center of gravity shifted from electric drivetrains to software, autonomy and in-car AI. (autobeijing.org.cn)
Auto China 2026 opened in Beijing with Geely unveiling its Eva Cab robotaxi and exhibitors shifting attention from batteries to software. (autobeijing.org.cn) (zgh.com) The Beijing show runs from April 24 to May 3 across two venues, and organizers said it features 1,451 vehicles, 181 global debuts and 71 concept cars. (autobeijing.org.cn 1) (autobeijing.org.cn 2) Geely said Eva Cab is China’s first purpose-built robotaxi model, developed with CaoCao Mobility and built on a dedicated Level 4 autonomous architecture. Mass production is planned for 2027. (zgh.com) (markets.businessinsider.com) Level 4 means a car can handle the whole driving task in limited conditions without a human taking over, closer to a driverless shuttle than a lane-keeping assistant. Geely used that standard to pitch robotaxis as a commercial service, not a consumer option. (edgen.tech) (zgh.com) The other big message was inside the cabin. Alibaba Cloud said BYD, Geely, Li Auto, Changan, Dongfeng, BAIC, Great Wall, SAIC Volkswagen and IM Motors would integrate Qwen into vehicle systems announced at the show. (alibabacloud.com) Alibaba said Qwen-Omni runs on NVIDIA DRIVE and is meant to support voice, vision and other multimodal interactions in the cockpit, turning the dashboard into an AI assistant that can see and hear. (alibabacloud.com 1) (alibabacloud.com 2) Show organizers framed the event around “Smart Future,” and state media coverage from the floor highlighted AI-driven driving, centralized computing and software-defined vehicles as the industry’s new selling points. (autobeijing.org.cn) (en.qstheory.cn) That marks a visible change from recent Beijing and Shanghai auto shows, where range, battery chemistry and price cuts dominated launches. In 2026, the headline demos were robotaxis, foundation models and cockpits built around voice and automation. (en.qstheory.cn) (zgh.com) The closing pitch from Beijing was that Chinese carmakers are no longer selling only electric cars. They are selling rolling software platforms, with Geely’s robotaxi and Qwen-powered cockpits as the clearest exhibits on the floor. (autobeijing.org.cn) (alibabacloud.com)
