BMW terminates its autonomous driving cooperation with Baidu and joins hands with AutoNavi

Just when Baidu's driverless car achieved its first open city road operation in Wuzhen, its important partner BMW left early.

Recently, German Wirtschaftswoche reported that BMW and Baidu confirmed that the two companies had terminated their cooperation. The original cooperation period signed by the two parties was 3 years, and neither company explained the reason for the early termination of the cooperation. According to an unnamed BMW employee, the two sides had "irreconcilable differences of opinion."

German Wirtschaftswoche also said that BMW will continue to develop autonomous driving systems in China and will look for other partners. Baidu declined to comment on the news.

In September 2014, Baidu and BMW signed a cooperation agreement. The two parties plan to work together to overcome the technical challenges faced by highly automated driving in China's road environment in the next three years. According to the cooperation agreement, the R&D cooperation between Baidu and BMW involves vehicle use, driving strategy, maps, supporting infrastructure, relevant laws and industry standards, etc.

Later in May 2015, Yu Kai, the head of the cooperation project between Baidu and BMW and the then executive vice president of Baidu Deep Learning Institute, resigned from Baidu to start his own business.

On December 10, 2015, the first driverless car jointly developed by Baidu and BMW completed its first mixed road condition test in Beijing.

On December 14, 2015, the driverless car jointly developed by Baidu and BMW was displayed outside the venue of the Baidu Autonomous Driving Division's founding conference.

However, recently, the driverless car jointly developed by Baidu and BMW has disappeared from Baidu's driverless car demonstration activities.

During the 3rd World Internet Conference (November 16-18), 18 Baidu driverless cars were put into operation on open city roads for the first time in the Ziye Road Intelligent Vehicle and Smart Transportation Demonstration Zone in Tongxiang City. They were Chery EQ, BAIC EU260 and BYD Qin. At the 2016 Global Innovators Conference held on November 3, the driverless car exhibited by Baidu was the BAIC New Energy Vehicle BAIC EU260.

There have been signs that Baidu is strengthening its cooperation with domestic automobile brands in the field of autonomous driving.

On December 14, 2015, at the founding conference of Baidu's autonomous driving division, Yin Tongyue, chairman and general manager of Chery Automobile Group, attended the event. Yin Tongyue and BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu were hired as Baidu's autonomous driving consultants. At the Baidu World Conference held in early September 2016, the BAIC Baidu driverless car jointly developed by BAIC New Energy and Baidu was unveiled.

The reason behind the breakdown of the cooperation between Baidu and BMW may be the competition between Baidu Maps and AutoNavi Maps for the title of "King of Chinese Maps". In October 2016, Baidu Maps and AutoNavi Maps had a fierce competition on indicators such as user numbers and activity.

BMW hinted two months ago that it would abandon Baidu. In September 2016, AutoNavi Maps and BMW officially reached a cooperation agreement, and both parties will work together to create the next new in-vehicle traffic information system. It is reported that the first BMW model equipped with the new AutoNavi in-vehicle infotainment system will be officially launched in 2018.

According to the cooperation plan of both parties, AutoNavi and BMW will jointly provide car owners with Internet services including real-time traffic information and online route calculation. For BMW i electric vehicles and BMW hybrid models, AutoNavi will also solve the car owners' concerns about battery life through Internet means.

On October 15, 2016, during the 2016 Hangzhou Yunqi Conference, Wei Dong, vice president of Alibaba Mobile Business Group and president of AutoNavi Automotive Business Unit, said that during the development and testing of autonomous vehicles, AutoNavi will provide high-precision map data to partners in the automotive industry free of charge.

In the field of car networking, Baidu and AutoNavi have started the "horse race" mode early. In addition to BMW, many companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Changan, Geely, and SAIC Roewe have also reached cooperation with AutoNavi Maps. The latest news is that on November 7, 2016, Baidu and Germany's Daimler officially announced a cooperation, and the two parties will work together to provide Chinese customers with high-quality car intelligent interconnection services based on Baidu CarLife.

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.