Waymo enters China, can Baidu beat Google again this time?

Recently, the industrial and commercial information of Huimo Business Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. was officially exposed. The only shareholder is WAYMO LLC. It is registered in the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone. Its main business is consulting, including consulting services for business information, corporate management, trade information, supply chain management, and logistics information; autonomous driving, including the design, testing, and provision of related supporting services for autonomous driving vehicle components and products.

Waymo is Google's self-driving subsidiary, formerly the self-driving team of Google X Lab, and has a history of 9 years.

Data from Waymo's official website shows that it is currently conducting tests in 26 cities/regions in six states, including Mountain View, San Francisco, California, Phoenix and Chandler, Arizona, and Detroit, Michigan, and has completed more than 8 million miles, or approximately 12.87 million kilometers, of actual road tests.

Waymo has already launched early commercial trial operation projects in Phoenix and other places, opening its driverless ride-hailing service to some residents and removing the safety officer in the front seat.

Waymo faces many challenges in taking root and growing in China, and even in expanding its online car-hailing and driverless truck businesses on a large scale.

As driverless cars become more popular, there is a risk of being hacked and then launched into terrorist attacks. Therefore, this industry will also be linked to national security. There is talk in the industry that the Chinese government will take the initiative to set entry thresholds in the future and impose certain degree, scope and direction restrictions on foreign-funded enterprises.

Although Waymo currently has 8 million miles, or approximately 12.87 million kilometers, of actual road test mileage, since these tests were conducted in the United States, the autonomous driving system and decision-making system developed based on these data may not be suitable for China's actual road conditions and traffic conditions.

Google's business journey in China has not been smooth. First, the search business that made it famous withdrew from the Chinese market. In addition, Internet services such as Google Maps, Google Mail, and video service Youtube, as well as hardware products such as Pixl smartphones, Chromebook notebooks, and smart speakers were also absent.

Although the Android system has a huge user base in China thanks to the wave of smartphone replacement, these Android systems are only installed and sold after secondary processing by domestic manufacturers such as Huawei and Xiaomi.

It is easy for Waymo to register a company in Shanghai, but it is much more difficult to actually implement the driverless online car-hailing technology. After its entry into China, the domestic autonomous driving field will still maintain the current industry structure of one large company and many strong companies, while startups focus on niche areas and markets.

After Baidu competed with Google in the domestic search field, the two will compete again in the field of autonomous driving.

In the new battlefield of autonomous driving, Baidu Apollo has quickly reached the eve of large-scale mass production with the support of its localized technology system, massive data accumulation, and complete high-precision map system, relying on more than 119 partners. However, Google's driverless cars in China are just getting started.

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.