Baidu’s six-generation driverless vehicle Apollo RT6 adopts LiDAR from ZVision

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Baidu’s six-generation mass-produced driverless vehicle, the Apollo RT6, will be powered by the new-generation blind spot detection LiDAR from Chinese supplier ZVision, the latter disclosed on November 23.

Photo credit: ZVision

The Apollo RT6 is a fully autonomous battery-electric model with a detachable steering wheel. Designed for complex urban environments, the Apollo RT6 features a per unit cost of RMB250,000 ($37,000). The model will be deployed by Apollo Go, Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service platform, in 2023.

The Apollo RT6 adopts Baidu’s most advanced L4 autonomous driving system, powered by automotive-grade dual computing units with a maximum computing power of 1,200TOPS. The vehicle is equipped with 38 sensors, including 8 LiDAR and 12 cameras, to obtain highly accurate, long-range detection on all sides.

Notably, the four LiDAR units around the vehicle body are provided by ZVision, which endow the autonomous driving application with reliablility and stability, a wide viewing angle, and 3D deep perception capability with a long range and high resolution. 

In fact, ZVision and Baidu’s relationship can date far back. In March this year, Baidu officially became one of the shareholders of ZVision. The latter’s high-performance, integrated, mass-produced solid-state LiDAR product won Baidu over, and are therefore selected for the Apollo RT6. 

Prior to the Apollo RT6 from Baidu, ZVision’s products are also deployed on JD Logistics’ fifth-generation smart delivery vehicles, Inceptio Technology’s autonomous trunkline logistics commercial vehicles, and DeepRoute.ai’s pre-assembly L4 autonomous driving solution.