Inceptio Technology ("Inceptio" or the “Company”), an industry leading developer of autonomous truck technologies, hosted the Autoware Foundation (AWF) Meetup in China at its headquarters in Shanghai on June 27, 2025. The event, which gathered over 60 mobility leaders from 40 companies, featured discussions on the commercialization of autonomous driving technology and highlighted the growing impact of open-source solutions.

Inceptio’s Role in Advancing Autonomous Trucking

In his opening remarks, Julian Ma, Founder and CEO of Inceptio, outlined the Company's commitment to integrating its autonomous driving system with AWF’s open-source platform. To date, Inceptio's autonomous driving system has surpassed 200 million kilometers in commercial operations, serving as a testament to the Company’s leadership in autonomous commercial vehicles.

Following Ma’s remarks, a series of updates were delivered by AWF’s President, Daisuke Tanaka, and Chair of AWF's Technical Steering Committee (TSC), Ryohsuke Mitsudome. Tanaka introduced the four strategic pillars of AWF 2.0, which include enhancing user experience, revitalizing regional chapters, showcasing successful commercial deployments, and expanding industry influence. Mitsudome presented the latest AWF roadmap, emphasizing key updates such as the integration of AI-first software stacks and new developments to improve the reliability and scalability of open-source autonomous systems.

Daisuke Tanaka / President, AWF

Member Presentations: Inceptio’s Key Innovations

Mao Ye, Senior Director of Level 4 and International Solutions at Inceptio, delivered a detailed presentation on the Company’s autonomous trucking solutions. Ye showcased Inceptio’s progress with Level 3 trucks and discussed how the Company is integrating its proprietary technology with the AWF platform to scale operations globally. Other member organizations, including the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and Weichai, also shared their groundbreaking innovations in autonomous technology.

Ye Mao / Senior Director, L4 and International Solutions, Inceptio Technology

Expert Panels: Industry Trends and Open Innovation

This was followed by two insightful panel discussions, with the first focusing on the applications of Level 4 autonomy in commercial vehicles. Moderated by David Chang, CEO of Whale Dynamic, the panel featured experts from Inceptio, AuveTech, Knorr-Bremse, REKA, Rino, and TIER IV. The panelists discussed how China is leading the world in the adoption of commercial autonomous vehicles due to its vast infrastructure, extensive supply chains, and scale.

Moderator: David Chang / CEO, Whale Dynamic

Panelists: Julian Ma / Founder and CEO, Inceptio Technology

Haziq Faris / CEO, REKA

Kristjan Vilipõld / Head of deployment, operations, AuveTech

Johnny Wang / Business Development Director, TIER IV

Ms. Ran Lin / COO, Rino

Fei Xia / President, China Commercial Vehicle, KnorrBremse

The second panel focused on the role of tech communities and the AWF ecosystem, with representatives from Inceptio, MiiVii Tech, Synkrotron, and WeRide. The discussion emphasized the importance of simulation-real world alignment and governance in open-source collaborations.

Moderator: David Chang / CEO, Whale Dynamic

Panelists: Jun Su / CTO, MiiVii Tech

Zhen Wang / Technical Director, WeRide

Shengqi Zhang / Technical Director, Inceptio Technology

Zijiang Yang / Professor of USTC, CEO of Synkrotron

Fireside Chat: Vision for the Future of Open-Source Autonomy

In a fireside chat, Julian Ma joined Shinpei Kato, Founder and Fellow of the Autoware Foundation, to discuss their shared vision for the future of autonomous mobility and open-source autonomy. They discussed the importance of building an international talent pipeline, fostering regional development hubs in China, and forming stronger partnerships with OEMs to bring autonomous solutions to market.

Julian Ma / Founder and CEO,  Inceptio Technology

Shinpei Kato / Founder and Fellow,  AWF

Looking Ahead: Partnerships and Regional Engagement

The event concluded with closing remarks from Kato, followed by a discussion about the continued momentum of AWF’s partnerships. Formal collaborations, such as those with Inceptio, Weichai, and Synkrotron, are advancing key areas including autonomous trucking, IoT integration, and safety testing. Regional working groups in China are set to launch in Q3 2025, with a continued focus on pilot commercialization and expanding the open-source ecosystem.

About Inceptio Technology

Inceptio Technology is an industry leading developer of autonomous driving technologies for heavy-duty trucks. Its flagship technology is the Inceptio Autonomous Driving System, a proprietary full-stack solution. Inceptio partnered with leading OEMs to roll out the industry’s first series production L3 autonomous trucks in late 2021. These trucks are operated by customers across all line-haul logistics sectors including express delivery, full-truckload (FTL) transportation, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation, and cold chain. Inceptio is at the cutting edge of developing fully driverless trucks. In 2022 it became the first company in China to receive a public road-testing permit for driverless autonomous heavy-duty trucks.

For more information on Inceptio Technology, visit https://en.inceptio.ai/