Baidu World 2022: The sixth generation of mass-produced driverless cars will be launched

On July 21, the 2022 Baidu World Conference, co-hosted by Baidu and CCTV News with the theme of "AI Deep Ploughing, All Things Grow", was held as scheduled. At the conference, Baidu launched the sixth generation of mass-produced driverless cars - Apollo RT6. Based on a major breakthrough in autonomous driving technology, Apollo RT6 not only has the ability to drive autonomously on complex urban roads, but also costs only 250,000 yuan. According to the plan, Apollo RT6 will be put into use on Carrot Run in 2023. Its mass production will accelerate the large-scale deployment of driverless cars and redefine cars and future travel methods.

Baidu founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li said: Baidu has reduced the cost of self-driving cars to one-tenth of the industry average, equivalent to the price of an ordinary new energy vehicle. The cost of driverless cars has dropped so much that we can deploy tens of thousands of such cars across the country. In the future, taking a driverless car will be half the price of taking a taxi now.

At the launch site, CCTV host Sa Beining and Baidu Group Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intelligent Driving Business Group Li Zhenyu witnessed the debut of Apollo RT6. Apollo RT6 is a mass-produced vehicle independently developed and forward-designed by Baidu for future travel. The whole vehicle is deeply designed for passenger needs and unmanned driving travel scenarios. The appearance of Apollo RT6 adopts a through-the-loop space shuttle body and galaxy waistline, highlighting the sense of technology and security; the innovative keel sunroof integrates the roof sensor and the sunroof structure, completely revolutionizing the shape of the self-driving modified car; in order to further improve the convenience of travel, the vehicle is also equipped with humanized functions such as Lingxi interactive light language with recognition and prompt functions, and intelligent electric side sliding doors.

In terms of smart cockpit, Apollo RT6 has created a versatile smart space to provide passengers with the ultimate travel experience. Apollo RT6 supports two modes: with a steering wheel and without a steering wheel. The front row can be equipped with seats, vending machines, desks, game consoles, etc. according to different travel scenarios to meet passengers' diverse needs such as office and entertainment. In addition, Apollo RT6 has a large rear space of 1050mm, independent seats, and a rearward design of the smart interactive system, achieving the size of an A-class car, the space of a B-class car, and the experience of a C-class car.

Apollo RT6 is derived from Baidu's self-developed "Apollo Galaxy" architecture platform. As the first model of the platform, Apollo RT6 has achieved 100% automotive-grade and full vehicle redundancy systems. Compared with modified cars on the market, its reliability is two to three orders of magnitude higher, fully ensuring the safety of passengers. In terms of hardware, Apollo RT6 has seven fully redundant systems, including architecture redundancy, computing unit redundancy, and braking system redundancy. If any single component or system fails, the spare redundant system can instantly fill the gap; in terms of software, it is equipped with a fault diagnosis and risk reduction system for the whole vehicle + autonomous driving system.

Li Zhenyu emphasized that Apollo RT6 is not only a car, but also a good driver. Its built-in autonomous driving technology is equivalent to that of a driver with 20 years of driving experience. Apollo RT6 is equipped with Baidu's latest generation of unmanned driving system, with stronger L4 autonomous driving capabilities than the previous generation of models, and can cope with various complex roads and scenes in the city. Apollo RT6 is equipped with automotive-grade high-computing power main-redundant dual computing units, with a computing power of up to 1200Tops. The 38 sensors of the whole vehicle are deeply integrated to achieve full coverage of the three-fold detection capabilities of far, medium and near, with more accurate perception capabilities. As the earliest company to deploy autonomous driving in China, Baidu Apollo's autonomous driving capabilities have been widely verified, with a total test mileage of more than 32 million kilometers. Carrot Fast Run has realized autonomous driving travel services in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other cities, with an order volume of more than 1 million. Baidu has firmly established itself as the world's largest autonomous driving travel service provider.

Baidu Apollo has been deeply engaged in autonomous driving for nine years and has launched six generations of driverless cars. Compared with the previous five generations of models, Apollo RT6 has achieved a deep integration of AI technology and vehicle engineering, and has the advantages of high safety, high quality, and low cost. Apollo RT6 is not only a landmark product for future travel, but will also make driverless travel within reach.