China’s leading search engine, recently announced that its autonomous car has successfully completed rigorous, fully autonomous tests on one route with mixed roads under a variety of environmental conditions. The Baidu autonomous car is the first in China to have demonstrated full autonomy under mixed road conditions, marking a milestone in China’s autonomous driving effort. The road tests were carried out under complex road conditions, and the Baidu vehicle, a modified BMW 3 Series, completed the tests by executing a comprehensive set of driving actions and accurately responding to the driving environment. “Fully autonomous driving under mixed road conditions is universally challenging, with complexity further heightened by Beijing’s road conditions and unpredictable driver behaviour,” said Wang Jing, SVP of Baidu and General Manager of Baidu’s newly established Autonomous Driving Business Unit. Baidu’s self-developed HAD maps record 3D road data to within a few centimeters of accuracy of vehicle positioning. With Baidu’s leading object recognition and environment perception technology, the car can detect, recognize, and follow other vehicles with high accuracy; recognise road lanes; and accurately gauge distance and velocity.
Baidu AutoBrain showcases the company’s advanced automotive vertical technologies, and highlights its cutting-edge big data and advances in artificial intelligence. Baidu also leads China’s Internet map industry in mapping data and technology, as well as user base scale.