On December 27, 2021, at the annual developer conference held by Baidu in China, Extreme Auto, a joint venture with Geely Holding Group in March, will release the first robot concept car with L4 level autonomous driving capabilities. It is reported that Baidu will launch this car in the first half of 2022 and mass production in 2023.
Baidu said that robot cars do not require human intervention and can learn and improve on their own.
Baidu co-founder and CEO Robin Li believes that in the next 10 to 40 years, intelligent transportation will undergo major changes and affect people's daily lives. It also said it would lift restrictions on private car purchases in China's big cities within five years and tackle congestion on urban roads within a decade. He added that smart mobility could also help reduce traffic accidents by 90 percent and reduce carbon emissions.
He stressed that AI is a powerful tool that can rebuild diverse industries and benefit humanity by pushing the boundaries of what is possible for humanity.
Baidu's self-driving sharing platform Apollo Go said that as of the third quarter of this year, 115,000 rides have been realized, making it the world's largest self-driving mobility service provider. Baidu did not disclose details of its investment in autonomous driving, but R&D spending in the third quarter was RMB6.2 billion, up 35% year-on-year.
The Apollo Go service is currently available in 5 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and can call a robo-taxi through a smartphone app. Baidu said it will provide services in 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030.
Baidu currently has 411 autonomous driving licenses in China. By the end of September, more than 16 million kilometers of Level 4 tests had been completed, an increase of 189% year-on-year.
Baidu aims to expand its robo-taxi service to 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030.
Robin Li stressed that the cognitive and control capabilities of artificial intelligence can be widely used in the aerospace industry. Earlier this month, Baidu signed a strategic partnership with China's lunar exploration and space program. The two sides agreed to promote cooperation in space and artificial intelligence technologies in the field of lunar and planetary exploration. It is said that in the future, 5 million artificial intelligence experts will be trained in five years by cultivating artificial intelligence talents.