Aion N60 leads the Guiyang qualifier as a narrow-street U-turn exposes the boundaries of autonomous-driving rules

On August 15, a narrow, two-way single-lane street on Jincang Road in Guiyang became the key test point in the Guiyang qualifier for the second Smart Driving Competition. The 12 vehicles entered in sequence and were evaluated on a three-point turn; after 37 minutes, 11 vehicles had failed to complete it autonomously. Reasons included the system exiting early, the vehicle becoming stuck, the maneuver deviating from the intended path, or the owner taking over. The Aion N60 completed the maneuver after occupants coordinated with other road users’ vehicles. It uses a WeRide solution and has total computing power of 200 TOPS.

The Aion N60 ultimately scored 117.81 points (out of 120), the highest score in the event; its full-scenario NOA capability received no deductions, and the number of interventions was zero. The Nio ES8, equipped with three lidar units and more than 1000 TOPS of computing power, scored 97.5 points. The Luxeed R7 scored 88.42 points, while the AITO M9 scored 84.92 points. The five vehicles that ultimately advanced to the final were the Aion N60, Nio ES8, Fengyun T9L, Luxeed R7 and IM LS8.

The U-turn also showed that hardware scale and performance in a specific scenario do not always move in tandem. The ES8 recognized that oncoming traffic would wait and completed the initial steering maneuver, but ultimately required the owner to take over during the narrow-road negotiation because of the wait, a vehicle approaching from behind and the countdown. The Exeed Sterra ET turned its front end first, but was blocked by a bus and triggered an intervention with the five-second countdown about to end. The Onvo L60 had previously chosen the correct route at a railway-station intersection, but here, despite indicating an intention to turn around, it ultimately became stuck.

The N60’s “zero interventions” result comes with two qualifications. One intervention recorded earlier was overturned by the chief judge after the event, on the grounds that both sides of the one-way street were blocked and there was no space to pass. In addition, as the vehicle was turning around, accompanying personnel inside the vehicle called out to other road users’ vehicles outside, after which the vehicle ahead gave up half a parking space and the N60 completed the maneuver by using the bend. The competition rules have not yet defined in writing whether this kind of road communication constitutes human intervention; the relevant footage has been made public for verification.

Specifically, the result means that details such as single-lane U-turns and negotiating with other road users’ vehicles are enough to reshuffle the performance order of competing vehicles, while scores remain subject to the judging criteria applied. Before the mountain-road final begins, the event needs to answer how calling out should be counted under the rules; the competing vehicles will face a new test at 12:30 the following day.