Soochow: The sanitation industry actively laying out intelligent and unmanned operations, with the potential to accelerate growth in 2026-27.

Soochow released a research report stating that unmanned sanitation is the largest application scenario in the field of autonomous driving. As of March 15th, 288 units of unmanned sanitation equipment have been tendered, an increase of 102.8% year-on-year, doubling the amount. The main driving factors for cost reduction of equipment include technological changes on the hardware side, mass production, domestic substitution, and dilution of software/algorithm development costs after scaling. The sanitation industry is actively deploying intelligence and unmanned systems. Technological innovation, mass production, and domestic substitution collectively drive the logic of cost reduction, with an expected acceleration in output in 2026-2027. Soochow's main points are as follows: 1) Unmanned sanitation is the largest application scenario in the field of autonomous driving, accounting for 30% of projects in 2025, with a bidding amount exceeding 12.6 billion yuan (an increase of over 150%). 2) As of March 15, 2026, 288 units of unmanned sanitation equipment have been tendered, with a year-on-year growth of 102.8%, doubling the amount. Among them, 162 units are used in the "Sanitation+Autonomous Driving" pilot projects, accounting for 56%. Technical differences: Multiple technology paths coexist, with the development of multi-sensor + high-precision map technology matured. The cost of sensor configuration in the visual fusion path is lower. Focus on the unmanned sanitation scenario, the industry assumes multiple sensors + high-precision map path: configuration of 4 LiDARs + 6 ordinary cameras + 2 mm-wave radars + 6 ultrasonic radars; fusion of visual path: configuration of 1 LiDAR + 4 ordinary cameras + 2 HD cameras + 2 mm-wave radars + 6 ultrasonic radars. Cost reduction logic: The main driving factors for cost reduction of unmanned sanitation equipment include technological changes on the hardware side, mass production, domestic substitution, and dilution of software/algorithm development costs after scaling. The cost structure of unmanned sanitation vehicles can be divided into: 1) vehicle hardware, 2) intelligent driving hardware, and 3) software algorithms. Cost reduction calculation: The current cost of small-tonnage unmanned sanitation equipment is estimated to be around 450,000 yuan, expected to decrease by 59-62% to around 170-180,000 yuan in the next 1-2 years, and by 69-71% to around 130-140,000 yuan in the next 3-5 years, mainly driven by mass production, domestic substitution, and configuration differences.