Baidu Apollo upgrades product matrix for auto intelligence

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On April 16, Baidu Apollo introduced its product matrix newly upgraded that involves the fields of intelligent driving, smart cockpit, and intelligent maps, etc.

The aforesaid product matrix has been completely renewed to provide consumers with pleasant intelligent mobility experience and help automaker win the intelligentization competition, said Baidu.

Photo credit: Baidu

At the event, Baidu Apollo launched its flagship product, City Driving Max, which is equipped with two NVIDIA Orin X chips with a computing power of 508TOPS. The company said it is so far the only product in China that can provide users with a seamless experience on urban roads using pure visual perception. Notably, the first car to carry the solution still adopts LiDAR as the developer expects to achieve real perception redundancy that integrates “pure vsion with LiDAR”.

The "lightweight high-precision map" used by the City Driving Max is "lighter" by nearly 80% compared to the industry's commonly used traditional high-precision map, which can quickly promote the product’s popularity in urban areas at a more reasonable cost.

Baidu Apollo also said its driving & parking-integrated product, Apollo Highway Driving Pro, was updated recently with the computing platform upgraded to a single TDA4-VH platform. Compared with the dual TDA4-VM, the new product's AI computing power and CPU computing power utilization rates are both less than 50%, which can achieve higher-level driving-parking-integrated functions with lower computing power and cost. Based on this, Baidu Apollo has collaborated deeply with VOYAH, the premium NEV brand of Dongfeng Motor, to launch the first cooperative vehicle model, the new VOYAH FREE, which will be equipped with the Apollo Highway Driving Pro intelligent driving products, including high-speed navigation, city driving assistance, all-scenario efficient parking assistance, and other functions.

Besides, Baidu Apollo has upgraded its automated parking product, Apollo Parking, which can park in vertical parking spaces in just 28 seconds.

In terms of intelligent cockpit, Baidu Apollo has had Xiaodu In-Car OS and Xiaodu Voice SDK. Xiaodu In-Car OS, as a complete package solution, can be quickly mass-produced, and Xiaodu Voice SDK is based on large-model localization deployment, enabling full-time full-duplex, hundred-millisecond-level response. Car companies can define and implement leading intelligent cockpit experiences through Xiaodu Voice SDK.

Regarding intelligent maps, Baidu Apollo has upgraded its in-car navigation maps, with improvements in quality, performance, and real-time data transmission. It has also released a new product of human-machine co-driving maps, which provides a new human-machine interface for interaction between humans and intelligent driving systems, increasing user trust in intelligent driving. The high-precision map has been upgraded to "OneMap", enabling rapid and dynamic updating of map data.

Photo credit: Baidu

As for intelligent vehicle volume production, Baidu Apollo has established an open partner ecosystem. At the event, Baidu and Black Sesame Technologies jointly announced that the latter's domestically-produced chip has become the preferred China-made chip option for Baidu Apollo's intelligent driving system. The Apollo Highway Driving Pro, which will be powered by Black Sesame Technologies’ Huashan-2 A1000 chip computing platform, will be officially launched in the third quarter of 2023.