Baidu Apollo autonomous driving is accelerating its implementation, and smart cars are expanding the in-car entertainment ecosystem

Autonomous driving is getting closer and closer.

At the Baidu World Conference held on November 1, many important news about autonomous driving were released.

The circle of friends is further expanded

Baidu and FAW Hongqi jointly launched China's first L4-level autonomous driving mass-produced passenger car, realizing China's transformation of autonomous driving from commercial vehicles to passenger cars.

This Hongqi L4 autonomous driving model is expected to be put into demonstration operation in small batches in 2019 and put into operation in more cities in large quantities in 2020.

Baidu and Volvo have launched a plan to deeply customize L4 autonomous driving passenger cars with the goal of mass production.

Baidu is Volvo's first international partner in China to cooperate deeply and jointly develop autonomous vehicles. At the same time, Volvo is also the first international car company that Baidu has started deep customized joint development with the goal of mass-producing L4 passenger cars.

Baidu is not only racing on the domestic autonomous driving track, but has also won the favor of internationally renowned automakers. The influence of Baidu's autonomous driving has also expanded from China to the world.

After the Baidu World Conference, the number of partners of the Apollo autonomous driving open platform has further expanded to 131. As the world's largest intelligent driving software platform, Baidu Apollo has attracted business partners from various industries with the concept of openness and open source, bringing together the strengths of multiple parties to create a win-win autonomous driving industry ecosystem.

Baidu announced the operating status of Apollo, the world's first L4 mass-produced autonomous driving bus: Apollo has been tested by 10,000 people, operated for 10,000 kilometers, and maintained a zero-accident record. More than 8,000 feedbacks from users have helped Apollo to continuously iterate and improve.

Apollo's stable performance has attracted many car companies to cooperate. It is expected that by 2019, the number of "new species" equipped with Apollo L4 autonomous driving capabilities will reach 10,000.

Autonomous driving is accelerating

Baidu's unremitting investment in the field of AI over the years has begun to reap the rewards. Baidu's artificial intelligence technology, voice semantics, multi-modal interaction, driver monitoring, vehicle information security and other core capabilities have played a good enabling role in the mass production of smart cars by various car companies.

At the conference, Baidu announced the comprehensive upgrade of Apollo's five major autonomous driving products and solutions in information security, high-precision maps, autonomous parking, high-speed autonomous driving, and AR-HUD. The supporting upgrades of these specific products not only accelerated the commercialization of autonomous driving, but also gave the Apollo ecosystem more room for imagination.

In the field of vehicle-road collaboration, Baidu Apollo will carry out commercialization in three typical scenarios: urban roads, parking lots, and highways.

Changsha has become the first city in China to fully implement self-driving taxis and vehicle-road collaboration. The first batch of self-driving taxis in China will be put into large-scale testing and operation in Changsha, and it is expected that the scale will reach 100 in 2019.

Baidu Apollo's autonomous parking solution has been implemented in many places. In the future, it will be able to achieve autonomous parking in 99% of parking spaces, while saving users 30% of their time. Since it is more about renovating parking lots, the vehicles themselves need fewer sensors, which can enable more ordinary vehicles to achieve autonomous parking as soon as possible.

In terms of high-speed autonomous driving, Baidu is cooperating with BYD, BAIC, Chery, JAC, Great Wall and other automobile manufacturers; it is expected to achieve mass production and delivery of autonomous driving passenger cars in high-speed scenarios by 2020.

Autonomous driving will promote the promotion of shared cars. Dadao Yongche, a smart car operator invested by Baidu Ventures, is using autonomous driving technology to change the way we use cars. Relying on autonomous driving, Dadao Yongche not only reduces vehicle operating costs, but also improves the user experience of shared cars by finding people with cars.

Autonomous driving is entering our lives at a faster pace than expected.

Baidu's understanding of future transportation is definitely not just focused on cars and roads, but has further turned its attention to the construction of smart cities.

Baidu has launched the AI ​​City Core "ACE Plan", which relies on artificial intelligence to help cities operate more efficiently. Baidu believes that the future smart city will be based on the three pillars of smart transportation: ACE, autonomous vehicles, connected roads, and efficient city.

Smart cockpit improves riding experience

Autonomous driving is only part of a smart car, which also includes a smart cockpit with increasingly rich functions.

At this conference, Baidu announced the industry's first AR-HUD and Apollo in-car smart applet, realizing an intelligent upgrade of the cockpit.

The AR-HUD smart windshield presents vehicle information and navigation on the top of the windshield, which can be seen when you look up. There is no need to distract your attention by looking at the car computer or the dashboard. It can accurately identify lane lines and vehicles in front, and achieve perfect fit between guide lines and lane lines.

Apollo in-car smart applet is a strategic step in Baidu's in-car service ecosystem, which can meet users' needs in a variety of in-car scenarios. Cars equipped with Xiaodu in-car OS can enjoy Baidu's smart applet services covering 3,600 lines. Smart applet can be used immediately without OTA upgrades, with zero resource consumption, and people in the car can operate it with voice and gestures.

Xiaodu's in-car OS has welcomed the first batch of projects from car companies including Chery, EXEED, Ford, Great Wall, Hyundai and Kia.

The Future version of Xiaodu Car OS was also displayed on the same day. This concept product embodies Apollo's forward-looking multi-scenario design concept. In the future, self-driving cars equipped with Xiaodu Car OS will be able to meet various needs in entertainment, leisure, office, parent-child and other scenarios.

In-car OS enriches the in-car entertainment ecosystem

Baidu's upgrade of Xiaodu's in-car OS has further evolved the car's smart cockpit and provided richer in-car entertainment.

Autonomous driving can free people's hands and attention, allowing people to have more fun in the car. In the future, when friends and family take a self-driving car, they can fully enjoy the happy time in the car.

At this conference, Changba, China's oldest music interactive platform, reached a cooperation with Baidu to install the Changba system in smart cars.

Changba is not simply installed on smart vehicles, but also adapted to the in-car intelligent voice interaction system developed by Baidu. Karaoke in the car no longer requires clicking on the screen, but can be directly controlled by voice, and song selection, song switching, and pause can all be done easily.

The diverse functions of Changba allow passengers to enjoy a KTV-level karaoke experience in the car. Functions such as sound beautification, karaoke scoring, and one-click tuning allow users to sing karaoke more comfortably. The mixer uses high-quality sound effects to beautify your voice, allowing you to instantly become a singing expert. The song request station provides a diverse accompaniment library and rich recommended content, so you can sing whenever you want even in the car.

Changba has been constantly improving its music scene layout, and has been deeply involved in the entertainment karaoke field since the launch of the Changba APP in 2012. As the online karaoke ecosystem becomes more and more complete and rich, in 2014, Changba launched the offline Changba Maisong KTV business, and the closed loop of online + offline karaoke began to take shape.

Up to now, Changba has formed a closed music loop integrating mobile karaoke + offline karaoke + mini shared karaoke booths + in-car karaoke, providing a 360-degree full music social ecosystem for music-loving users.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.