Leveraging Apollo’s Latest Technological Advancements and Adaptability for Different Road Conditions, Baidu Is Bringing the Experience of Autonomous Driving to Citizens in the Chinese Mountain City of Chongqing

Baidu, Inc. announced a strategic partnership with the Chongqing municipal government on Sunday to collaborate in areas including autonomous driving, smart cities, smart government and blockchain solutions. The partnership will help the most populous municipality in China become a benchmark in the “Chengdu-Chongqing city cluster” in driving the intelligent transformation of industries.

“Chongqing is a city with an innovative spirit, and a national front-runner when it comes to promoting the comprehensive integration of AI and big data into the economy, as well as intelligent transformation and industrial upgrading,” Robin Li, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Baidu, said.

“As an AI company, Baidu has been committed to empowering all walks of life through AI. We believe that deepening cooperation between Baidu and Chongqing will accelerate technological innovation and applications in areas closely linked to people’s everyday lives and Chongqing will become an intelligent and innovative mountain city attracting more worldwide attention,” he added.

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Under the strategic collaboration, Chongqing and Baidu will work together in the following areas to accelerate the intelligent development of the municipality:

Autonomous Driving

Chongqing will support Baidu to build an autonomous driving innovation center for Western China. Leveraging the technological strengths of Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving platform and its ecosystem, the two sides will support research and development, as well as the implementation of related technologies, in order to accelerate the technological advancement and industrial upgrading of Chongqing’s automotive industry and urban traffic management.

With support from both the Yongchuan district government of Chongqing and the Chongqing Academy of Metrology and Quality Inspection, Baidu will help Chongqing build a test base for an autonomous driving project for Western China. Making use of the transportation network in the district and various trial ride scenarios, the project aims to build a demonstration environment for autonomous driving and intelligent vehicle infrastructure systems. Passenger trial rides for Baidu’s Apollo robotaxi will be carried out on open roads under the project, which will also introduce information technology products and intelligent transportation services.

In the future, the Chongqing municipal government will also launch policies to help businesses and projects open up a sizable road network and offer license plates for autonomous vehicles testing.

Baidu will also set up an Apollo autonomous driving test and operation center in Yongchuan district, aiming to accelerate the implementation and operation of robotaxis, as well as bring the autonomous driving experience to Chongqing’s citizens.

At the Smart China Expo, which kicked off in Chongqing on Monday, Baidu’s autonomous driving shuttle bus Apolong 2.0 made its debut transporting visitors. Compared with the previous version, Apolong 2.0 has improved performance and a more powerful configuration, enabling Chongqing citizens and visitors to experience cutting-edge autonomous driving services.

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Smart City

Leveraging its advantages in AI, blockchain and big data, Baidu will develop a comprehensive smart AI city demonstration project in Chongqing with offerings including autonomous valet parking, smart court systems and intelligent meteorology by using its technologies to power an urban brain, the use of maps and the energy sector.

Intelligent Government Services

Through the use of Baidu’s Smart Mini Program platform, Baijiahao and AI customer services, Chongqing will promote the opening of government data resources and improvements to the efficiency of online government services. The open source technology of Smart Mini Program will support Chongqing’s government app to become the first government service app in the country capable of running a smart mini program.

Blockchain 

In terms of blockchain applications, Baidu will work with local providers to offer healthcare blockchain solutions in Yuzhong district, Chongqing.

In addition, the municipality will encourage collaboration between local companies and Baidu in areas including smart manufacturing, supporting a more extensive use of Baidu’s deep learning platform PaddlePaddle. Baidu will also develop its AI technology ecosystem and help foster talent in Chongqing.

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