Baidu announces the opening of its autonomous driving platform

Baidu has launched a new program called "Apollo", which will provide an open, complete and secure software platform to partners in the automotive industry and autonomous driving field, helping them to quickly build a complete autonomous driving system of their own by combining vehicles and hardware systems. Baidu Group President and COO Lu Qi said that artificial intelligence technology has great potential in promoting social development, and smart cars are one of the biggest industrial opportunities.

This time, Baidu will open its strongest, most mature and safest autonomous driving technology to the industry, aiming to establish an ecosystem centered on cooperation, give full play to Baidu's technological advantages in the field of artificial intelligence, empower partners, and jointly promote the development and popularization of autonomous driving technology. The plan is named "Apollo" after the Apollo moon landing plan, which means that it is groundbreaking and requires the power of many participants to bring huge impetus to social development. Baidu believes that autonomous driving and smart cars are also such a cause.

It is reported that Baidu's upcoming Apollo project provides a complete set of software, hardware and service solutions, including vehicle platform, hardware platform, software platform, and cloud data service. Baidu will open the code or capabilities of functions such as environmental perception, path planning, vehicle control, and vehicle operating system, and provide complete development and testing tools. Baidu will also select partners with the best synergy and compatibility in the fields of vehicles and sensors, jointly form a collaborative alliance, and recommend it to project participants for use, further lowering the threshold for the development of driverless vehicles and promoting the rapid popularization of technology.

According to Baidu, the company will first open up the autonomous driving capability in closed areas in July this year, output the autonomous driving capability under simple urban road conditions by the end of the year, and gradually open up the fully autonomous driving capability on highways and ordinary urban roads by 2020. Baidu has invested heavily in the research and development of unmanned vehicle technology since 2015. In December of that year, it conducted fully autonomous driving tests on highways and urban roads in Beijing. In September 2016, it obtained the California autonomous driving road test license. In November, it launched the unmanned vehicle trial operation on ordinary open roads in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. Hundreds of guests and reporters attending the Wuzhen World Internet Conference took a test ride on Baidu's unmanned vehicle.

Lu Qi said, "As the world's largest automobile production and sales market, China has many automobile brands and a more open cooperation environment. Baidu's initiative to open up its autonomous driving technology will collide with the automotive industry and create many innovation opportunities, which can more widely release the value of our accumulated technology and drive rapid changes in the industry. Looking at the United States and other markets with more developed automobile industries, the open and innovative industry ecosystem advocated by Baidu will also promote the accelerated development of autonomous driving." "In addition, through the openness of technology, our technological achievements can also be quickly applied in a wide range of fields, which can promote the rapid iteration of the technology itself, which is also very attractive to every talent who is interested in investing in autonomous driving technology."

In response to the plan released by Baidu, Chen Anning, general manager of Chery Automobile Co., Ltd., said that the threshold for the development of autonomous driving technology is high, and it takes time to go from 0 to 1, so the opening of Baidu's autonomous driving platform is of great significance to the automotive industry, and Chery Automobile welcomes Baidu's move. At the same time, it must be recognized that the cooperation between automakers and Internet technology companies in autonomous driving is a gradual process. The more data and technology are shared, the more outstanding the innovative results are, the greater the benefits for both parties, and the competitive advantages of automakers in the field of intelligent driving can be established as early as possible. At present, our cooperation with Baidu in the field of autonomous driving has entered the stage of deep customization.

Li Bin, founder and chairman of NIO, said that Baidu has deep soft power reserves in the field of autonomous driving. Baidu's opening up of software capabilities such as artificial intelligence, big data and maps required for autonomous driving is of great significance to the autonomous driving industry. Coupled with the reduction in hardware costs brought about by the integration of open platforms, the popularization of autonomous driving may be much faster than most people imagine. In the future, the value chain of the automotive industry will be reshaped, and personalized experience will be a foundation for defining automotive brands and the direction of future development.

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.