Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant, says its electric vehicle firm Jida Auto is going to be one step ahead of Tesla in the development of advanced autonomous driving technologies. Soon after Baidu unveiled its new Apollo RT6 minivan, Baidu chief executive Robin Li said that the carmaker is coming after Tesla.
The Apollo RT6 comes equipped with 8 LiDAR
sensors and 12 cameras to enable Level 4 autonomous driving. By comparison,
Tesla uses a camera-based system and Elon Musk has frequently dismissed the
need for LiDAR, despite much of the industry believing that the laser-based
systems are needed to achieve full autonomy. Baidu says that the Apollo RT6 has
almost 32 million km of testing under its belt and can drive
as well as a human with 20 years of experience behind the wheel. The company
will deploy the RT6 through its Apollo Go robotaxi service which operates in 10
cities and has already provided more than 1 million rides.
Speaking with Reuters, Jida Auto chief
executive Joe Xia Yiping said the company wants to deliver 800,000 examples of
its robotaxi in 2028. It is also readying a second model for mass production in
2024. In early 2022, Baidu lifted the veil on its first all-electric heavy-duty
truck. The vehicle is known as the Xingtu and was designed by Pininfarina. It
is equipped with a 450 kWh battery pack and can travel up to 300 km on a single charge when fully loaded. It is also equipped with an advanced
semi-autonomous driving suite with 11 onboard cameras, one infrared detector,
five millimeter-wave radars, and a LiDAR sensor.
