AIBRIEF
Built with Chinese EV maker GAC Aion, the R2 runs without a safety operator in two demonstration zones based on the company's own announcement.
DiDi Autonomous Driving has begun fully driverless passenger service trials with its R2 robotaxi in designated zones in Beijing and Guangzhou, the company said this week.
The R2 is the first vehicle purpose-built for robotaxi service, co-developed with GAC Aion, a major Chinese electric-vehicle maker, and designed to clear both Chinese and EU five-star body-safety standards. DiDi says the car runs on its in-house L4 self-driving software and hardware stack, with 33 sensors, a three-domain fusion compute platform, and multiple safety-redundancy layers.
The cabin is built around a 17.3-inch ceiling-mounted screen with AI voice control, letting riders check trip numbers, adjust air conditioning and ambient lighting, and open windows by voice. Rear seats support large-angle recline. Coming features include a pre-pickup auto-ventilation window, exterior screen interaction, and "honk to find car" or "voice to find car" tools.
R2 units were delivered in January 2026 and have been road-tested in Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shenzhen since then. The company describes performance as "stable and safe" before the passenger-service launch. That is DiDi's own characterization, not independent verification. The announcement carries no disclosure of fleet size, paid versus invited status, or how the two city zones compare to permit areas held by Baidu Apollo, Pony.ai, or WeRide.