Baidu launches driving platform that can park cars autonomously
LAS VEGAS: At CES 2019, Baidu has announced Apollo 3.5, the company’s newest and most advanced autonomous driving platform capable of performing in complex urban and suburban situations.
Baidu is developing its autonomous driving platform with a bit of a different approach compared to other industry leaders like Tesla or NVIDIA: the company’s most recent software platform is open source and allegedly the first one capable of ‘complex’ driving.
To kick off CES 2019, Baidu announced that Apollo 3.5 can manage “unprotected turns, speed bumps, clear zones, side passes, narrow lanes, and autonomous parking;” one can only hope that parallel parking is included in that final category. Udelv, an autonomous delivery van company, will be utilising the platform this year in up to 100 test vehicles across the US. Additionally, the company shared the news that it has created Baidu Apollo Enterprise, which is a customisable suite of intelligent driving products targeted at enterprises. International automotive brands, including Ford, Great Wall, and Hyundai Kia which are already collaborators with Baidu will be able to select from five offered products: autonomous highway driving solutions, autonomous valet parking solutions, fully autonomous minibus driving solutions, intelligent map data service platform and vehicle AI system DuerOS for Apollo which can turn any device with a microphone and speaker into a smart device.
Baidu has also open sourced the code for its V2X solutions. This software is Baidu’s basis for the communication between intelligent vehicles and intelligent roadways.