Baidu plans to deploy 1,000 budget robotaxis over the next three years, accelera...

Baidu plans to deploy 1,000 budget robotaxis over the next three years, accelerating the commercialization of autonomous driving technology- PingWest

Baidu plans to deploy 1,000 budget robotaxis over the next three years, accelerating the commercialization of autonomous driving technology

11 hours ago

Baidu plans to deploy a fleet of 1,000 budget robotaxis over the next three years as the company aims to capitalize on commercialization of autonomous driving technology.

Detail: The Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence company Baidu has inked a partnership agreement with BAIC Group to build 1,000 driverless cars at manufacturing cost of 480,000 yuan each.

The new generation roboxtaix called Apollo Moon, which will be manufactured under BAIC’s ARCFOX electric vehicle brand while Baidu will provide the autonomous driving systems and software.

Apollo Moon will equip with omni-sensors and computing unit redundancy functions as well as a precise failure detector and degradable processing algorithms, 5G remote driving service will also be supported, according to Baidu.

Apollo Moon has a projected operating cycle of over five years, but Baidu didn’t reveal when production will begin.

Apollo, first announced in 2013, is a key growth driver of Baidu. The company said it has 2,900 patents for intelligent driving and 244 relevant road testing licenses in China, accumulating more than 12 million km of test mileage.

Context: Baidu Apollo has been testing robotaxis in a number of major cities across China including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing and other cities.

In May , Baidu has started operation of fully driverless robotaxi service in Beijing’s Shougang park, making it the first Chinese company to launch commercial robotaxi service.

Shougang park is one of the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.  During the upcoming Winter Olympics, the Apollo robotaxis will be available to provide shuttle services for athletes and staff.

In 2020, Baidu has completed the most road test for autonomous vehicles in Beijing, this is the third consecutive year that the company has retained the title since 2018.

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