What is the reason behind the termination of the autonomous driving cooperation between BMW and Baidu?

Recently, according to a report by German Wirtschaftswoche, BMW and Baidu have confirmed that they will terminate their previous cooperation in the fields of map services and autonomous driving after November 2016. It is reported that the two parties signed a cooperation agreement in September 2014 to jointly promote the research of highly automated driving technology in China. The report also stated that an unnamed BMW employee said that the two parties terminated their cooperation because of "irreconcilable differences." At present, neither company has explained the reason for the termination of the cooperation.

The cooperation came to an abrupt end

The honeymoon period of BMW and Baidu's cooperation began in September 2014.

At that time, the two parties signed a research and development cooperation agreement on promoting highly automated driving technology in China. According to the agreement, this project will involve six dimensions: vehicle use, driving strategy, high-precision three-dimensional environmental maps, supporting infrastructure, relevant laws and industry standards, aiming to overcome the technical challenges faced by highly automated driving technology in China's road environment. Its long-term plan is to enhance vehicle road safety through intelligent technology and reduce traffic accidents and casualties.

As it was an important cooperation between a luxury car brand and a domestic IT company, the cooperation between BMW and Baidu attracted much attention at the time. BMW and Baidu also made a bold statement that they would demonstrate BMW's highly automated driving models that can be driven on Chinese municipal roads after the three-year cooperation project .

Since the beginning of 2015, Baidu has been parking a newly modified BMW 5 Series in its underground garage in Beijing for a long time. This is the first autonomous driving project test car of Baidu and BMW. The Baidu team affectionately calls it "Dabai". In December 2015, a Baidu driverless car modified from a BMW 3 Series made its debut in China, completing a 30-kilometer, 40-minute autonomous driving road test on the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway and the Fifth Ring Road in Beijing, with a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

However, during the World Internet Conference held in Wuzhen recently, the 18 driverless cars displayed by Baidu were all Chinese self-owned brand models, including Chery EQ, BAIC EU260, and BYD Qin. This situation indirectly proves that the cooperation between Baidu and BMW has been stranded.

It is reported that the cooperation period originally signed by the two parties was three years, and neither company has explained the reason for terminating the cooperation ahead of schedule. BMW said it will continue to develop autonomous driving systems in China and look for other partners.

Why terminate the cooperation?

According to a report by German magazine Wirtschaftswoche, an unnamed BMW employee said that the reason for stopping the cooperation with Baidu was because of "irreconcilable differences" between the two parties. In Cheyun's view, the reasons why the cooperation between BMW and Baidu was stranded may be due to two aspects: business and personnel.

First, the business aspect.

As early as 2013, Baidu launched the driverless car project and established driverless cars as one of the company's strategic directions, with the goal of fully autonomous driving. It is worth noting that at that time, except for some universities in China, there were almost no large companies that firmly stated that they would do driverless driving. Therefore, the cooperation between BMW and Baidu can be understood as a natural move at the right time. It is a specific cooperation product at a specific time stage. Both parties can benefit from the cooperation. The former uses Chinese companies to complete the trial of China's autonomous driving field, and the latter obtains technical knowledge through cooperation with luxury car companies.

However, during the two years of cooperation, Baidu and BMW did not show the relevant core technology results of the cooperation. There is a voice that after BMW has been deeply involved in the Chinese market for a period of time, it has a new understanding and ideas about the technical path and planning related to autonomous driving, which may cause differences with Baidu. From Baidu's perspective, applying driverless technology to its own brand models at this stage can better leverage the huge domestic independent brand power on the one hand, and it is easier to obtain government support on the other hand. Therefore, it is not accidental that the cooperation between the two parties was finally stranded.

Secondly, the personnel aspect.

At the beginning of the cooperation between BMW and Baidu, the person in charge of the project was Yu Kai, the former executive vice president of Baidu Deep Learning Institute (IDL). However, in May 2015, half a year after BMW and Baidu cooperated, Yu Kai resigned from Baidu and started his own business. Since then, the cooperation between BMW and Baidu has been transferred to Ni Kai, a senior scientist at Baidu Deep Learning Institute, who was also the head of Baidu's driverless team at the time. However, Ni Kai resigned from Baidu in early 2016 and joined LeTV Auto. In the process of cooperation between BMW and Baidu, the loss of core technical talents has more or less affected the cooperation between the two parties.

At present, according to the latest statement by Wang Jin, senior vice president of Baidu and general manager of the autonomous driving business unit, Baidu will continue to follow the strategy proposed at the end of 2015, with the goal of commercial use in three years and mass production in five years. It will first gradually conduct trial operations in cities and start large-scale mass production of driverless cars in 2021.

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.