Chinese technology company Baidu recently released a number of new intelligent vehicle and intelligent driving products during the second Apollo Ecosystem Conference, held at the start of December in Guangzhou, China.
“The transportation industry and automobile industry are undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation,” said Zhenyu Li, corporate vice president of Baidu and general manager of Intelligent Driving Group (IDG), during the conference. “With its focus on ‘intelligence’, Apollo is helping auto makers to build good cars and governments to build good roads through intelligent transformation. Apollo is committed to openness and hopes to work with partners to create a better future for autonomous driving.”
Baidu showed off new and upgraded solutions combining hardware and software which included elements for intelligent driving, intelligent cabin, intelligent map and intelligent cloud. It also announced an advanced solution for passenger vehicles called Apollo Navigation Pilot (ANP), which is powered by its L4 autonomous driving technology. The company aims to have this technology pre-installed on one million vehicles over the next three-to-five years.
During the event, the Guangzhou Huangpu district officially launched an intelligent transportation MaaS (Mobility as a Service) platform, which it states will include the deployment of robotaxis, robobuses and autonomous driving utility vehicles. The roll-out of these autonomous vehicles will cover the core area of Huangpu, where AI roadside sensors and cloud engines are already set up.
Baidu and Guangzhou will also cooperate on a new model for Guangzhou’s digital transportation operator that leverages Baidu’s ACE Transportation Engine – a full-stack solution that stands for ‘Autonomous Driving, Connected Road, Efficient Mobility’ – helping the city establish a leading position in new autonomous driving infrastructure.