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BAT to “compete” in intelligent driving

www.cnstock.com
2017-11-20 15:48

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“If the ticket on self driving comes, can mass production be far behind?” Baidu CEO Li Yanhong disclosed at the Baidu World Conference yesterday that Baidu plans to put L4 self-driving passenger vehicles that run in designated areas into mass production and trial operation by the end of July 2018, in cooperation with Chinese commercial vehicle manufacturer Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry Co.

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) launched the plan on the development of the new-generation artificial intelligence and significant technology programs on November 15. It released the list of the first new-generation artificial intelligence open innovation platforms and Baidu’s self-driving open platform was among it. It is noteworthy that with the Apollo program, Baidu will achieve the industrialization of self-driving vehicles and autonomous driving ahead of schedule.

Analysts pointed out that AI shares commonness in technology. More scenarios and data will promote its implementation. Despite various application scenarios designated for the first national AI platforms, BAT’s exploration in AI industrialization will not be limited to such cases. They will try to make breakthroughs in more sectors.

Mass production of self-driving vehicles to achieve in 2018

Baidu plans to put L4 self-driving passenger vehicles that run in designated areas into mass production and trial operation by the end of July 2018 in cooperation with King Long United Automotive. It is also working with Chinese automakers JAC and BAIC to launch Level 3 autonomous vehicles in 2019, and with Chery Automobile to launch in 2020.

Li received the first ticket for self-driving during the Baidu AI Developer Conference in July. “If the ticket on self driving comes, can mass production be far behind?” Li said.

Baidu is the first Internet-based enterprises proposing AI strategies, but it has been questioned in the introduction of products. The Apollo is likely to change the situation.

Baidu officially introduced the Apollo program on self-driving open platform in July. It also introduced the Apollo foundation with 10 billion yuan in September and plans to complete the investment in over 100 programs in three years. The latest statistics released yesterday show that Baidu’s Apollo open platform is used by over 6,000 developers and more than 1,700 partners have joined the Apollo program. Over 100 partners applied for Apollo’s open data.

“Apollo is already an active open system.” For self driving, it is generally expected to achieve mass production of self-driving vehicles in 2020, indicated Li. The Apollo program will promote the commercialization of self-driving vehicles. It is expected that the mass production of the first self-driving vehicles will achieve in 2018.

It is learnt that Baidu plans to put L4 self-driving passenger vehicles that run in designated areas into mass production and trial operation by the end of July 2018 in cooperation with King Long United Automotive. It is also working with Chinese automakers JAC and BAIC to launch Level 3 autonomous vehicles in 2019, and with Chery Automobile to launch in 2020. Apollo introduced DuerOS for Apollo, the first human-vehicle AI interaction system in the world, and Apollo Pilot, a self-driving product for China and mass production, yesterday. “Technology is just codes and it should bring the public with better life. Apollo platform is advancing towards products, mass production and solutions and will bring intelligent driving into the real life.”

It is learnt that DuerOS for Apollo has reached strategic cooperation with 13 vehicle enterprises and eight models of four partners will conduct mass production this year. Meanwhile, Baidu will deepen the cooperation with the new-generation flagship models of FAW, Chery, Hyundai and Leopaard to achieve mass production in 2018.

Li also displayed the fatigue monitoring system on drivers based on image identification and other technologies. It reminds drivers preventing fatigue driving through infrared face recognition. Baidu and FAW have signed strategic cooperation agreement on the development of the product.

BAT to explore more AI applications

Despite various application scenarios designated for the first national AI platforms, BAT’s exploration in AI industrialization will not be limited to such cases. They will try to make breakthroughs in more sectors.

The Chinese speeches of speakers were translated into English through AI at the conference yesterday. Such AI applications are used in the real life. AI is considered as the orientation of the next-generation technology revolution and is favored by capitals.

Baidu’s intelligent platform introduced its capacities in voice, image, natural language processing and users’ image last year and has opened it to partners. The four capacities have been improving with more applications in the past year. It has opened over 80 core AI capacities and over 370,000 developers were accessed to the platform. Li also disclosed that it is used 218.8 billion times every day.

Intelligent driving is the most important platform for Baidu to develop AI. Li disclosed yesterday that Apollo, Baidu’s autonomous driving open platform, will work with China's Xiong’an New Area in intelligent transportation to develop the area into a leading, global smart city. Meanwhile, Baidu will cooperate with other cities, including Baoding, Wuhu, Chongqing, Beijing and Shanghai. They will cooperate in self driving and intelligent city programs.

It is noteworthy that 15 ministries and commissions, including the MOST, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the establishment of an office on promoting the development of the new-generation artificial intelligence. They also released the list of the first new-generation artificial intelligence open innovation platforms. Baidu’s self-driving open platform was among it. It will rely on Alibaba, Tencent and Iflytek to establish the national AI open innovation platform on city brains, medical image and intelligent voice.

BAT has released on strategies on AI open platforms. Besides the establishment of AI institutes or laboratories, none of them divided AI into a particular business. It supports the industrialization of AI technologies in all businesses and product lines.

For example, Alibaba’s AI-based “city brain” has commonness with Internet-based vehicles and self driving. Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Ltd. (002415.SZ), Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. (002236.SZ) and other companies have participated in its program in Xiaoshan. Besides the traffic, it will cover environmental protection, finance, safety city and other industries.

Tencent’s “AI ecosystem” will generate 100 AI start-up programs and introduce 300 “cloud plus entrepreneurship supporting plans”. It will also help partners promote the application and industrialization of AI technologies in intelligent medical treatment, retails and self driving through PE/VC institutes. Its vehicle connection ecosystem has attracted Guangzhou Automobile Group Co., Ltd. (601238.SH), Chongqing Changan Automobile Company Limited (000625.SZ), Geely Automobile Holdings Limited (00175.HK) and BYD Company Limited (002594.SZ) as first partners.

Analysts pointed out that AI shares commonness in technology. More scenarios and data will promote its implementation. Despite various application scenarios designated for the first national AI platforms, BAT’s exploration in AI industrialization will not be limited to such cases. They will try to make breakthroughs in more sectors.
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