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Baidu Apollo

Baidu goes by the moniker “Google of China” as its first and foremost business was building an internet search engine. As, in recent years the company has turned its attention and investments to electrification and autonomous driving technologies.

It developed the Apollo software, which is available to dozens of companies - including major global automakers - and applied it to the fleet of autonomous taxis it began building from the summer of 2021, and then to the electric ROBO-01 it recently unveiled.

A little earlier, at the beginning of 2021, it had announced its cooperation with Geely for the production of electric cars, and two months after the creation of the robotic applications company JIDU with an investment of 300 million euros.

Now, the Apollo RT6 uses the 6th generation of Baidu's self-driving software, and is the company's first car created in white. It is a regular MPV-Van with Crossover elements, for which Baidu has ambitious commercial expectations - especially given that it will be available in China for 250 thousand yuan (ie 36,260 euros).

That's a pretty low price, considering the complexity of the digital technology required for Level 4 autonomous driving. In fact, it's cheap even as just electric. “Mass cost containment will allow us to make tens of thousands of copies [of Apollo] available throughout China. We are heading towards a future where using an autonomous taxi will cost half of what it costs to use a regular taxi today,” said Baidu CEO Robin Li.

For Level 4 autonomous driving, it uses 38 sensors: 8 LiDAR, 6 microwave radars and 12 ultrasonic radars, as well as 12 cameras. Several of these sensors are integrated into the panoramic glass roof.

Despite its size, the Apollo RT6 only seats two passengers. The steering wheel and pedals are removable to provide more space, and two more seats, computers, monitors and game consoles can be added. Its lights are interactive with road users to show them indications about the car's movement.

The Apollo RT6 will be added to Baidu's Apollo Go fleet of robotaxi in about a year. After their initial trial period, it will contribute to increasing this fleet from the 10,000 cars it currently includes, to around 100,000. Thus, the Chinese company wants to expand its fleet to 65 cities in China by 2025, and to 100 cities by 2030.

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