Shenzhen Haylion Technologies with Shenzhen Bus Group · self-driving bus or shuttle
Alphaba smart bus
A small electric city bus with lidar, cameras and GPS, developed by Haylion for Shenzhen Bus Group, that could change lanes, avoid obstacles and stop at bus stops by itself at 10 to 40 km/h. It carried up to 19 passengers during the trial.
- Price
- —Haylion's chairman put the cost of each pilot bus at about RMB 500,000 (about USD 76,000, China Daily, Dec 2017); not sold publicly
- Autonomy
- SupervisedHow it runs
- Driverless
- Not yetSafety driver on board
- Fleet
- 4Reported; details below
- Speed
- 40.0 km/hFaster than 38%
- Range
- —Not published
Why it matters
Reported in December 2017 as one of the first self-driving buses to run a trial on open public roads, in Shenzhen.
Real-world use
Four buses ran invited passengers on a 1.2 km, three-stop loop in the Futian Bonded Zone of Shenzhen from 2 December 2017, with a driver ready to take over.
How it drives
Fleet and city figures move fast; each carries its date and who reported it.
- Driverless status
- Safety driver on board
- Where it runs
- Futian Bonded Zone, Shenzhen (trial from Dec 2017)
- Fleet
- 4 buses (China Daily, Dec 2017)
- Rides, miles or loads
- about 8,000 km of test running across the four buses over four months (China Daily, Dec 2017)
How it stacks up
Against other buses & shuttles that publish the figure. Pick a measure.
Alphaba smart bus is faster than 38% of the 13 other buses & shuttles that publish a speed. Bars show the 7 closest in date.
Not published by the maker: height, weight, payload, joints, battery, price.
Public attention
A historic robot: no longer sold or in use, so it is not ranked against current vehicles.
- No Wikipedia article of its own yet
- No recent press stories listed yet
Measures how much people read and write about a robot, not how good it is. Measured 2026-10-13; same method for every robot. How it is measured
What’s inside
No component details published yet.
- Movement
- Wheeled base
- How it runs
- Supervised. Works by itself while a person watches and steps in.
From the maker
Alphaba smart bus is the only vehicle from Shenzhen Haylion Technologies with Shenzhen Bus Group in the atlas.
Made, sold and where
No production or sales figures published yet.
- Price
- Not publishedHaylion's chairman put the cost of each pilot bus at about RMB 500,000 (about USD 76,000, China Daily, Dec 2017); not sold publicly
- How to get one
- No official buying page found
Side by side with its peers
Picked by the same rules for every robot: another maker’s robot that moves the same way, is at the same stage and does at least one of the same main jobs, first shown within two years. Closer size and price rank higher. How we choose
| Measure | No public photo yetWe only show photos we're allowed to useAlphaba smart busShenzhen Haylion Technologies with Shenzhen Bus Group |  ApolongBaidu Apollo with King Long (Xiamen King Long United Automotive)Same job: public transit · Both on wheels · Both past robots |  Yutong autonomous city bus (2015 road test)Yutong BusSame job: public transit · Both on wheels · Both past robots |  Xiaoyu (first generation)Yutong BusSame job: public transit · Both on wheels · Both past robots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First shown | 2017-12-02 | 2018-07-04 | 2015-08-29 | 2019 |
| Status | Retired | Discontinued | Retired | Retired |
| Height | — | — | — | — |
| Weight | — | — | — | — |
| Joints | — | — | — | — |
| Speed | 40 km/h | — | 68 km/h | — |
| Payload | — | — | — | — |
| Battery | — | — | — | — |
| Price | — | — | — | — |
Sources
Figures come from press coverage. Every link below backs something on this page.
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