- Passengers can experience a real driverless autonomous
driving service at Beijing's
Shougang Park
- Visitors at the upcoming 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics will
be able to ride the robotaxis as a regular transport option at the
games
BEIJING, April 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Baidu, Inc.
(NASDAQ: BIDU and HKEX: 9888) will open fully driverless robotaxi
services to the public in Beijing
starting from May 2, 2021, which will
be China's first paid autonomous
vehicle service where users can hail a robotaxi without a safety
driver behind the steering wheel, marking a landmark step on the
road to commercialization of autonomous driving. The fully
driverless Apollo Go Robotaxi service will first be launched in
Beijing's Shougang Park – one of
the venues for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics – and will soon be
transporting visitors at the games.
With the ride-hailing service being launched during the bustling
Labor Day holiday period, Baidu will be the first Chinese company
offering a fully driverless robotaxi service under commercial
operation. By using the Apollo Go App, users can locate a robotaxi
in the vicinity and hail a driverless ride by themselves through a
system of unmanned self-service processes. Features including
virtual reality navigation and remote car honking can help users to
identify the location of the car. To unlock the autonomous
vehicles, users are required to scan a QR code and health code on
the car for identity verification and pandemic prevention
purposes.
Upon boarding the vehicle and clicking on the "Start the
Journey" button, the system will ensure that seat belts are
fastened and the doors are shut, the trip only beginning after all
the passenger safety protocol checks are completed. With no safety
driver at the helm, the 5G Remote Driving Service is present at all
times to allow human operators to remotely access the vehicles in
the case of exceptional emergencies.
At Beijing Shougang Park, the robotaxis will be able to
transport users to sports halls, work areas, coffee shops and
hotels. During the upcoming Winter Olympics, the Apollo robotaxis
will be available to provide shuttle services for athletes and
staff.
"Introducing unmanned services is an indispensable stage for the
commercialization of autonomous driving. Today, we are opening the
fully driverless robotaxi services in Beijing for the public, which we achieved only
after conducting countless scalable driverless tests in many cities
over a long period of time," said Yunpeng
Wang, vice president and general manager of autonomous
driving technology at Baidu.
"In the future, Baidu Apollo will launch driverless robotaxis in
more cities, enabling the public to access greener, low-carbon, and
convenient travel services, while continuing to improve the
unmanned service process and user experience," he said. "The
commercialization of autonomous driving can alleviate congestion
effectively and help to reach the peak carbon dioxide emissions and
achieve carbon neutrality in China."
Since October last year, Baidu has started autonomous driving
tests for the public under trial operations in areas such as
Yizhuang, Haidian and Shunyi in Beijing. Baidu Apollo is moving forward to a
new stage of scalable commercialized operations with the launch of
the fully driverless robotaxi services in the capital, as a
starting point of commercialized operations in first-tier Chinese
cities. Baidu Apollo recently announced the completion of over 10
million kilometers of road testing for autonomous
driving.
Earlier this week, Guidehouse, a leading global consulting firm,
named Baidu as one of the top autonomous driving vendors in the
world, with Baidu the only Chinese company listed on the Guidehouse
leaderboard. Being recognized by Guidehouse as a leading company
for a second consecutive year, Baidu has been investing in
autonomous driving for eight years, and has an established a car
fleet of 500 vehicles for autonomous driving trials. Baidu has been
granted 2,900 patents for intelligent driving and 221 test drive
licenses, among which 179 are to test self-driving cars for
carrying passengers.
About Baidu
Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated
world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company
with strong Internet foundation. Baidu is traded on the NASDAQ
Global Select Market under the symbol "BIDU", and on the main board
of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code "9888".
Currently, one ADS represents eight Class A ordinary shares.
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SOURCE Baidu, Inc.