ROME – The Chinese autonomous driving offensive is pushed by the giant of the digital world Baidu, which in addition to being the first search engine in the local language has been able to diversify its business by providing users and companies with various services. Thus, on the occasion of its big convention “Baidu World 2021”, the Asian giant presented its vision of the mobility of the future together with a new mobile robotaxi platform that aims to make autonomous vehicles more accessible to an ever wider audience. These announcements show how the “Baidu Apollo” intelligent driving program is leading the way towards the era of autonomous driving 2.0, moving from technical verification to full-scale commercial operation. The spectacular implication of these anticipations reached its peak when Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, in the company of Zhenyu Li, senior corporate vice president of the company and general manager of Intelligent Driving Group, entered the stage aboard the house’s first fully autonomous robocar.
“We believe that the cars of the future will be robocars – explained Robin Li – They will drive autonomously, act as an intelligent assistant and faithful companion, and will be self-learning. The intelligent vehicles of the future will be more like intelligent robots: they will move, communicate and learn. The robocar will not only be your vehicle, but also your driver, secretary, personal assistant. It will automatically drive, understand your words, take orders and continually learn from you and update itself to serve you a more personalized experience. ” Beyond the futuristic forms, which mark a radical break from traditional vehicles, what strikes the robocar’s “living room” is the total lack of steering wheel and pedals, made possible by a level 5 autonomous driving system. with automated gullwing opening, a transparent glass roof, zero gravity seats, a large smart curved display and a control panel for the various functions. The robocar is equipped with voice and facial recognition, advanced AI technology, and can analyze the internal and external surroundings, make predictive suggestions to proactively serve the needs of its passengers. In short, as pointed out by Robin Li, with this robocar we are far beyond a “simple” autonomous driving vehicle.
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