In the Apollo Version 1.0 launched this July, Baidu’s close area tracking automatic driving capability is opened to the, as to cloud service, Baidu will open its intelligent vehicle system DuerOS; as to software platform, Baidu will open its self-positioning, control, HMI and many other technologies; at to hardware, Baidu will open its reference hardware, which is essential for developing automatic driving research and development; as to vehicles, Apollo provides a reference vehicle platform.

By this September, Baidu Apollo will open its fixed-lane automatic driving capability and part of its simulation engine data. By the end of this year, Apollo will open a series of new capabilities which will enable vehicles to complete autopilot tasks in simple urban traffic situations. In addition, Baidu will open up more data and data upload interfaces to the public.

TMTPost found outside the exhibition hall that: two modified Lincoln MKZ started and completed highly-difficult “Arabic number 8-like” spiral moves and reached the destination together. This is the first time two unmanned vehicles passed the simultaneous test in closed areas.

Close area tracking automatic driving capability

Modified Lincoln MKZ

This is actually something developed by American cutting-edge automatic driving enterprise AutonomouStuff based on GPS and camera perception technology. According to Robert Hambrick, CEO of AutonomouStuff, it took only three days to build this set of automatic driving system with the help of Apollo 1.0’s open resource capacity.

Apollo 1.0 also provides global developers with a full range of “equipment”, including high-efficiency and easy-to-expand structure, complete and easy-to-use reference vehicles and hardware, one-on-install software modules, and complete off-line online development and debugging tools.

Gu Weihao, general manager of Baidu intelligent car business division, specifically introduced the three major capabilities at the conference, namely: simulation engine, high-precision mapping and positioning, security.

Simulation engine: As one of the most important components of Apollo, simulation service accumulates a large number of actual traffic and unmanned scene data. Based on Baidu’s large-scale cloud computing capacity, it could simulate a virtual running capacity of millions of kilometers. Through open simulation services, Apollo’s partners can access unmanned scenes and quickly complete a series of tasks, including testing, verifying and modeling optimization.

High-precision mapping and positioning:Baidu is one of the pioneers that apply deep learning and AI technology to mapping data generation and one of the first few high-precision mapping and positioning service providers. Based on GPS, IMU, high-precision maps and a variety of sensor data, Baidu’s self-positioning system can provide centimeter-level integrated positioning solution.

Security:Apollo provides a complete security framework and safety system components in an isolated and reliable security system. Through the vehicle safety firewall, Apollo isolates the network within the outside of the vehicle, the network of the car body and the vehicle, which ensures the independence of network boundaries.

With the increasing number of partners inside Apollo ecosystem, shared data, resources and technology will multiply, which means that developers and enterprises will no longer need to do basic work, but instead put more labor and financial resources into more advanced R&D work, which corresponds to the vision mentioned by Lu Qi previously.

Various resources are gathering towards the Apollo project

Besides Apollo 1.0, Baidu will increasingly open Baidu’s driverless technology and capital to the outside.

Gu Weihao also introduced to developers and partners Baidu’s project in environmental perception, end to end, high-precision maps, simulation maps and other industries that can be empowered by the AI technology.

Apollo 1.0 opens access its co-testing high-precision mapping technology. Through artificial intelligence, depth learning and other technologies, Baidu and international top-tier high-quality map service providers TomTom enhance the automation and intelligence of high-precision mapping data generation to meet the needs of automatic driving.

At the conference, Xu Yong, general manager of Baidu IoV Business Division, introduced the application of Baidu Intelligent Dialogue Artificial Intelligence System DuerOS in the automotive scenarios. According to him, Baidu will provide its partners with intelligent car solutions from various aspects, including product, technology and service, enabling enterprises to respond quickly to market demand and the change in automatic driving technology.