Wang Yunpeng, President of Baidu Intelligent Driving: We will release a car-and-handheld integrated map product to help 300 million cars get rid of their phone holders

On April 19, Wang Yunpeng, Vice President of Baidu Group and President of the Intelligent Driving Business Group, issued a letter to all employees on the seventh anniversary of the establishment of Baidu Apollo. Wang Yunpeng said that autonomous driving is an unprecedented innovative exploration. Seven years have passed, and before we know it, "the boat has sailed through thousands of mountains", and autonomous driving has ushered in the dawn of hope.

Baidu's exploration of autonomous driving technology began in 2013; in April 2017, Baidu officially announced the "Apollo Project" and launched Apollo, the world's first open autonomous driving platform; in 2020, Baidu Maps started the research and development of lane-level navigation; in 2023, in addition to applying large visual models to the field of mapping, Baidu Apollo also ushered in the year of mass production.

Wang Yunpeng emphasized that Baidu's goal is to firmly become a technical partner for the intelligent upgrade of automobile companies. Next, Baidu will focus on achieving positive gross profit and running a business model, achieving leading user experience and cost-effectiveness of smart driving and smart cabin products, and Baidu Maps will achieve differentiated competition and market share that outperforms the market.

It is worth noting that Wang Yunpeng also revealed that Baidu is about to release a map product that integrates hands and cars. The new navigation experience will help 300 million cars get rid of their mobile phone holders.

The in-car phone holder is a hot topic recently. Not long ago, at the Huawei Hongmeng Ecosystem Spring Communication Conference, Richard Yu, Huawei's executive director, CEO of the Terminal BG, and chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, joked, "I don't understand why so many people still use phone holders. Later I realized that it's because the car navigation performance is not good." Later, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi Group, also responded to this and launched a vote to see whether netizens support the installation of phone holders in cars.

In the future, there may be more changes in the installation of in-car navigation and in-car mobile phone holders.

Image source: Baidu