Baidu Reaches New Milestone in Autonomous Driving with Volume Production of China’s First Commercially Deployed Fully Auton...
July 03 2018 - 11:10PM
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) today announced that it has begun volume
production of Apolong, China’s first L4 fully autonomous bus, at
Baidu Create 2018, the company’s annual AI developer conference.
Apolong, developed in partnership with Chinese bus manufacturer
King Long and powered by Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open
platform, will be put into commercial operation in several Chinese
cities including Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Wuhan and Pingtan of
Fujian province, and has set its sights on overseas markets. At the
conference, Baidu also announced the latest upgrade to Apollo –
Apollo 3.0 – to better support autonomous driving in geo-fenced
areas.
The production volume of Apolong has reached 100
units at its manufacturing facility in Xiamen, in southeastern
China’s Fujian province. Baidu’s Chairman and CEO Robin Li
introduced the milestone as he livestreamed an inside look at the
autonomous mini bus production line to more than 6,000 attendees at
Baidu Create 2018 in Beijing.
“2018 marks the first year of commercialization
for autonomous driving. From the volume production of Apolong, we
can truly see that autonomous driving is making great strides -
taking the industry from zero to one," he said during his keynote
address.
Making its debut at the Baidu World conference
in Beijing in November, Apolong, which holds 14 people, is also
ready to take to the roads in overseas markets, targeting Japan as
its first destination.
Baidu announced that it has teamed up with King
Long and SB Drive, the autonomous driving subsidiary of Japan’s
SoftBank Group, to bring Apolong autonomous mini buses to Japan for
operation in cities such as Tokyo in early 2019.
Apolong, carrying Baidu’s Apollo autonomous
driving system, can complete self-driving operations such as
obstacle avoidance, swerve and automatic transshipment. Apolong
will initially be put to use in last-mile travel scenarios in
tourist spots, airports and other enclosed areas.
Continuing its rapid pace of development, Baidu
introduced Apollo 3.0, the newest upgrade to the platform, just one
year after its debut at the inaugural Baidu Create 2017. Apollo 3.0
includes new solutions supporting valet parking, autonomous mini
buses and autonomous microcars. These new solutions aim to help
prepare partners for volume production, evidence of which can
already be seen in the volume production of NEOLIX AX1 L4
autonomous microcars for logistics and transport that are already
operational in the Chinese cities of Xiongan and Changzhou.
“Apollo 3.0 marks a new era for the volume
production of autonomous vehicles. We believe that safety is the
foundation of volume production. Apollo will continue to work with
our partners to push forward the transition to intelligent vehicles
from traditional vehicles,” said Zhenyu Li, Vice President and
General Manager of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group.
At the event, Baidu also showcased a
voice-activated AI telematics OS, a solution to enhance the in-car
experience by enabling human-vehicle interaction. Leveraging
DuerOS, Baidu’s conversational AI system, the system’s capabilities
include human-vehicle conversation, facial recognition entry,
driver fatigue monitoring, AR navigation, intelligent security,
vehicle-to-home (V2H) connection and personalized services and
content such as providing recommendations and ordering food by
voice command.
Apollo has now brought together 116 partners on
the open platform. It laid out plans to achieve volume production
of L3 autonomous vehicles by 2020 with BYD, China's leading
electric car manufacturer and has formed new strategic cooperation
with Jaguar Land Rover, Valeo, Byton, Leopard Imaging and Suning
Logistics. The platform has amassed more than 220,000 lines of code
with over 10,000 developers recommending Apollo open source
software.
About Baidu Baidu, Inc. is the
leading Chinese language Internet search provider. Baidu aims to
make a complex world simpler through technology. Baidu's ADSs trade
on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU".
Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.
Media Contact Baidu
International Communications intlcomm@baidu.com
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/00709e24-579d-4887-b3c3-7e4cf99f0d8b
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024