Robo-taxis hit the streets of Beijing – albeit a small fleet in a geo-fenced suburb
(2021/05/06)
- Reference: 1620262219
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/05/06/baidu_apollo_robotaxi/
- Source link:
Chinese web giant Baidu has commenced operations of actual autonomous taxis on the streets of Beijing.
The Apollo robo-taxi service only operates in Shougang Park, an area of the capital city that will host some events in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Just ten self-driving cars are rolling in this first commercial test of the tech.
The cars are summoned with an Uber-like app and offer level-four autonomy – meaning they can independently drive in predefined geo-fenced areas, and allow humans to take the wheel if they feel it necessary.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Baidu has shown off videos of the cars, which are medium-sized SUVs, stopping at pedestrian crossings at night, handling city and highway traffic with ease, and happily navigating tunnels. The tech titan claims its cars can change lanes all by themselves, park automatically, handle complex intersections, and drive in smoky conditions.
[4]Youtube Video
The cars use LIDAR; cameras facing forward, backwards, and laterally; and radar using both ultrasound and millimetre wave radio.
[5]
Reports from the Chinese media say the cars have not been troubled by pedestrians and have not posed a problem, natch.
[6]Toyota buys Lyft’s autonomous car group for $550m
[7]Watchdog 'enables Tesla Autopilot' with string, some weight, a seat belt ... and no actual human at the wheel
[8]Semi-autonomous cars sales move up a gear with 3.5 million units leaving forecourts
The tech platform used by the cars is open, and available [9]on GitHub if you fancy taking it for a spin.
Baidu plans to expand its service into other Chinese cities in coming months. ®
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[6] http://www.theregister.com/2021/04/27/toyota_buys_lyfts_autonomous_cars/
[7] http://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/tesla_autopilot_consumer_reports_claims/
[8] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/semiautonomous_cars_19_per_cent/
[9] https://github.com/apolloauto
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The Apollo robo-taxi service only operates in Shougang Park, an area of the capital city that will host some events in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Just ten self-driving cars are rolling in this first commercial test of the tech.
The cars are summoned with an Uber-like app and offer level-four autonomy – meaning they can independently drive in predefined geo-fenced areas, and allow humans to take the wheel if they feel it necessary.
[1]
[2]
[3]
Baidu has shown off videos of the cars, which are medium-sized SUVs, stopping at pedestrian crossings at night, handling city and highway traffic with ease, and happily navigating tunnels. The tech titan claims its cars can change lanes all by themselves, park automatically, handle complex intersections, and drive in smoky conditions.
[4]Youtube Video
The cars use LIDAR; cameras facing forward, backwards, and laterally; and radar using both ultrasound and millimetre wave radio.
[5]
Reports from the Chinese media say the cars have not been troubled by pedestrians and have not posed a problem, natch.
[6]Toyota buys Lyft’s autonomous car group for $550m
[7]Watchdog 'enables Tesla Autopilot' with string, some weight, a seat belt ... and no actual human at the wheel
[8]Semi-autonomous cars sales move up a gear with 3.5 million units leaving forecourts
The tech platform used by the cars is open, and available [9]on GitHub if you fancy taking it for a spin.
Baidu plans to expand its service into other Chinese cities in coming months. ®
Get our [10]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YJNp2tcZD5AgOv2nQCZVCgAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMDgMFW44nk
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YJNp2tcZD5AgOv2nQCZVCgAAAIs&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] http://www.theregister.com/2021/04/27/toyota_buys_lyfts_autonomous_cars/
[7] http://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/tesla_autopilot_consumer_reports_claims/
[8] http://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/semiautonomous_cars_19_per_cent/
[9] https://github.com/apolloauto
[10] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I'm excited about robo-taxis and automated vehicles in general but...
I think somewhere like China had to do it first, for less than ethical reasons.
First is the insurance company model, especially in the West, still hadn't got the situation sorted regarding culpability with incidents with automated cars. Second, China has the kind of control that could strong arm any bad PR off the face of the earth, until robo-taxis become the norm and the bugs are tweaked out of it.
I might be just following the trope of China = bad, but like a few developments in the last decade or so, there's had to be an element of Wild West before things become a bit more established and adhere to protocols etc.
I'm really hoping one day to convince my City of residence, Auckland, to invest heavily in automated vehicles, because we are about 20 years behind schedule infrastructure wise.