Baidu’s Chairman said fully automated vehicle to appear in next three to five years

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Robin Li, Chairman and CEO of China's Internet giant Baidu, stated that the vehicles featured highly automated driving functions could be seen in many common situations in 2019 or 2020. Besides, the self-driving vehicle without human's intervention will appear on the completely open roads after three to five years, Li showed in an interview on the sidelines of the first session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee.

Besides, he revealed that Baidu will team up with Xiamen King Long United Automotive Industry (King Long) to launch a commercial-use microcirculation bus which will be put into use on some closed roadways such as scenic spots and docks this year. Additionally, from next year, Baidu plans to joins hands with some mainstream automakers to develop the small-sized autonomous car available for passengers.

The CPPCC member added that the open autonomous driving platforms like Apollo will help automakers obtain the cutting-edge autonomous driving technologies. Thus, in the future, not only conventional automakers still survive, but also consumers will be given more options.

When the topic of AI was mentioned, Robin Li showed that AI technology development has brought an impact that is nearly equivalent to the industrial revolution. For instance, the smart speaker has stepped into people's daily life since last year and will carry more and more new functions. In addition, he said AI will become an important force that drives domestic economic growth in the next two to five decades.