On February 27, Baidu Turnip Express all unmanned autonomous vehicle drove past Wuhan Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge and Wuhan Baishazhou Bridge, completing the "first span across the Yangtze River" of autonomous driving. Wuhan became the first city in China to realize the demonstration operation of intelligent connected vehicles across the Yangtze River.
As the largest city in the central region of China, Wuhan has a complex terrain, with rivers and lakes crisscrossing, and 11 bridges connecting the north and south of the Yangtze River, jointly constructing Wuhan's complex and unique transportation network. Cross river travel is also the most important scene in the daily lives of 14 million permanent residents in Wuhan.
This time, the Carrot Run took the lead in crossing the Yangsigang Yangtze River Bridge and Wuhan Baishazhou Bridge, achieving full unmanned autonomous driving connectivity from the north to the south of the Yangtze River. While providing rich choices for Wuhan citizens to travel better, the Carrot Run has expanded its autonomous driving service area and scale, continuously helping Wuhan move towards the "first city of autonomous driving".
Chen Zhuo, general manager of Baidu's autonomous driving business department, said: "Wuhan is one of the first batch of pilot cities for dual intelligence in China. Over the years, it has been seizing new opportunities for the upgrading and development of the intelligent connected car industry, and cultivating and strengthening new quality productivity. The first time that the turnip sprint all unmanned autonomous vehicle has crossed the river is the initial manifestation of Wuhan's efforts to develop new energy and intelligent connected car industries over the years, and focus on the development of artificial intelligence."
This autonomous driving across the Yangtze River is also a true portrayal and microcosm of Wuhan's cultivation and growth of "new quality productivity" in the new era. After crossing the river, Wuhan's two strategic emerging industries of new energy vehicles and artificial intelligence have been connected, building a bridge for the joint advancement of the two technological innovation highlands of Chegu and Optics Valley, and promoting China's intelligent connected vehicle industry to move from global to leading.
In recent years, with the rapid development of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G communication, and big data, autonomous driving technology has accelerated its application in the field of transportation, iterating rapidly from closed field testing to road testing, and from pilot demonstration to commercial trial operation.
As of now, 21 cities in China, including Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, have issued local policies for autonomous driving testing, and more than 60 enterprises have obtained autonomous driving testing licenses. In line with the implementation of policies, cities actively carry out the construction of autonomous driving vehicle testing bases, accelerate talent introduction and training, and improve industrial chain support, providing a solid foundation for the rapid development of autonomous driving technology.
Baidu has been expanding its presence in the field of autonomous driving since 2013, and has been committed to a high-pressure and marathon research and development investment for the past decade, driven by technological innovation for long-term development.
As of now, Baidu Apollo has accumulated over 90 million kilometers of advanced autonomous driving safety testing mileage, with over 5000 autonomous driving patent families, among which the number of advanced autonomous driving patent families is the world's largest.
In the future, Carrot Run will continue to closely follow the innovative policies of Wuhan's autonomous driving, continuously improve service quality and optimize user experience, and continuously expand travel scenarios; At the same time, further forming a radiation effect of large-scale high-level autonomous driving demonstration applications based on Wuhan, promoting the large-scale implementation of autonomous driving from "regional demonstration" to "urban application", and making the final push for commercialization.