(Original title: Behind the long list of ecological alliances: What does Baidu Apollo open up to?)
On July 5, Baidu once again produced news.
At the Baidu AI Developer Conference, Li Yanhong, the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Baidu, took the stage, confidently claiming that the era of mobile Internet is over, followed by the AI ​​era.
In the technological revolutions of the past, there were only two paths that a person, a company, or even a country could choose: either join the wave or wait and see.
On the same day, Baidu's Apollo open platform was an important Baidu AI ecological strategy. It was the first time for developers and industry partners to focus on the show, releasing ecological potential energy. In the era of AI, algorithms and data are very important. The scattered data is of no use, data must be accumulated, and value can appear.
Bai Qi, chief operating officer of Baidu, in the announcement of Apollo's overall strategy and open system, said: "Apollo is an important milestone for the automotive industry. It is essentially like the 'Android' system of the autonomous driving industry, but it is more open and powerful."
Baidu does not make cars, and Apollo also upholds this concept. In other words, the core of Baidu's Apollo plan is to enable artificial intelligence to empower the automotive industry.
At the same time, Lu Qi no longer emphasizes Baidu’s control capabilities, but announced that more than 50 partners have formed the Apollo ecosystem, covering OEMs, parts suppliers, and start-up companies and technology companies, as well as scientific research institutions. And local government.
“Why did Baidu release an open Apollo plan because software can't exist alone and it needs ecological support to bring back what it can't do to professional people?†On July 8th, an industry person familiar with the Apollo project was When interviewed by reporters from the 21st Century Business Herald, he said.
Baidu, Bosch Cooperation Sample
“Intelligence Era: Big Data and Smart Revolutions Redefining the Future†wrote: The old industry of automobiles, after the introduction of big data and machine intelligence, became completely new and transformed into a new industry. When the car and the Internet converge, the industry becomes more interesting.
On the same day, the Apollo Eco-Partners Alliance was formally established. The first group of more than 50 members includes 15 leading OEMs such as Chery, FAW, Chang'an and Great Wall, and 10 Tier1 manufacturers including Bosch, China, ZF, and Desai Westway. Also included are 12 multi-sector key component manufacturers such as NVIDIA, Microsoft, ZTE, Velodyne, TomTom, Ziguang Zonui, Fudi, 3 startups such as AutonomouStuff and Horizon, 3 UCAR, Grab taxi, etc. Service providers, five top universities such as Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiaotong University have also joined. Six government departments and agencies including Wuhu, Baoding and Beijing Yizhuang are also on the list.
On this long list of alliances, Bosch, who is listed on the list, is the world's most famous supplier of parts and components. It has become the first member of the Apollo ecosystem and has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Baidu.
On the same day of the press conference, Li Yanhong sat on the road with Lu Qi on a self-driving car and told everyone that he was on the way to the venue.
According to the reporter’s observation, on the way to the developer’s conference, Li’s ride is exactly the result of the cooperation between Bosch and Baidu’s Smart Automotive Division – an enhanced version of the highway auxiliary function demo vehicle, and a red Jeep that has been modified by the autopilot program. Free light.
As early as April 17 this year, the 21st Century Business Herald reporter experienced the demonstration car at the Bosch Technology Open Day before the Shanghai Auto Show. The car is equipped with five Bosch medium-range millimeter-wave radar, a multi-functional camera, electronic stability program ESP, electronic power steering EPS, and Baidu Smart Automotive Division positioning and augmented reality human-machine interface technology.
Moreover, the car has already achieved partial auto-piloting on the freeway, including lane keeping and driver-monitored lane switching and overtaking. When the condition of automatic lane change is not satisfied, the system will issue an alarm to urge the driver to take over and perform the next operation.
In other words, in the automatic driving mode, the driver must actively steer the steering to control the lane change of the vehicle. Obviously, when the news that “Li Yanhong was interviewed by unmanned vehicles†reached the headlines of the day’s major portals, there were media reports that questioned the “solid line of the driverless vehicle and did not hit the turn signalâ€. It can also be eliminated.
In addition, the vehicle can automatically control the speed of the vehicle when entering and exiting the corner, while the system can achieve partial freeway driving within 0-130km/h. It is understood that the system automatically drives between L2 and L3.
“Baidu Apollo is focused on building an autopilot open source platform, as well as high-definition maps, artificial intelligence, etc. Bosch will provide sensors, actuators, etc. to this platform to tackle the auto-pilot ecology. There is no conflict in business.†July 9 Xu Daquan, executive vice president of Bosch China, said in an interview with a 21st Century Business Herald reporter that the cooperation between Baidu and Bosch is complementary.
Xu Daquan also told reporters that Bosch had been concentrating on learning after Baidu announced the Apollo plan. "If this platform can achieve data sharing, it is a good thing for OEMs and component suppliers."
In fact, in this ecosystem, Bosch is bound to cooperate with search companies such as Baidu, because suppliers such as Bosch and the mainland rely on rule-based control technology, while AI technology represents higher computing power and computational speed. Once rule based is eliminated, If Bosch does not have next-generation technology, it will be difficult to turn around.
What does Baidu open up in the end?
In the automatic driving function, the technical reserves and systems of suppliers such as Bosch and China have already matured. Baidu now chooses to cooperate with Tier1 suppliers. What role should this assume?
At the AI ​​Developer Conference, Lu Qi detailed the technical framework of the smart driving open platform to the outside world. It includes four major components: reference vehicle platform, reference hardware platform, open software platform, and cloud service platform.
Obviously, Baidu is most concerned with the upper software platform and cloud service platform. The open software platform includes four key modules: self-positioning module, perception module, vehicle planning control, and the underlying operating framework.
The service platform level will open up important capabilities including high-precision maps, simulation engines, and security services. In addition, the service platform will also provide DuerOS for every car.
The reference hardware platform can support from CPU (Central Processing Unit) to GPU (Graphics Processor) to FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), as well as various sensors, from GPS to IMU to camera, lidar, radar, etc. A variety of different hardware.
"We add all the modules together. Apollo provides each developer with a capability from 0 to 1. Any developer can use Apollo to assemble a self-driving vehicle of your own to enter the autopilot research and development. "Lu Qi said.
In July of this year, Baidu plans to open Apollo 1.0 closed-track automatic driving. In September, it will open a fixed lane and follow the car to drive automatically. By the end of this year, it will output automatic driving ability in simple urban road conditions. By the end of 2018, it will open certain areas of high-speed and automatic driving of urban roads. At the end of 2019, the Alpha version of the autopilot of high-speed and urban roads was announced, and finally, the high-speed and all-road network of urban roads will be automatically driven by 2020.
At the same time, Apollo Eco is also looking globally. Among the first batch of partners, overseas companies and institutions accounted for nearly 30% of the total, including vehicle companies including Daimler and Ford. According to the reporter's multi-party understanding, BMW, Volkswagen, General Motors and other multinational car companies also intend to join the Apollo ecosystem and cooperate with Baidu in the fourth stage of autonomous driving.
Take the required cooperation mode
Of course, as a Chinese company, how to nurture the technology of autonomous Chinese companies in the field of autonomous driving is also a serious issue for Baidu.
At the Baidu AI Developer Conference, Chery took the opportunity to speak on its own as the sole vehicle company. Baidu and Chery’s cooperation is at the forefront. "Compared with other domestic auto makers, Baidu has taken a look at Chery's respect for technology. At present, Baidu and Chery are considering how to conduct demonstration operations." On July 8, related individuals close to Chery told reporters.
In addition, domestic companies still remain in the third level of automatic driving, but the outside world does not understand the specific differences between the third and fourth levels of automatic driving.
"L3 contains a very wide range of technical functions, the hand away from the steering wheel, to no need to drive. L4 from the driver does not need to start driving. So from the hand to leave the steering wheel without the driver to drive, are within the L3 level. According to the above-mentioned industry insiders, looking at the automotive industry and developing highway-to-vehicle functions, it is said that auto-piloting has already been achieved. This is a speculative activity in the auto industry. Although it is possible to gain eyeballs and increase some sales, it is not technological progress. meaningful.
Now, one of the challenges facing Baidu is how to get the competitive relationship between Bosch and Delphi, Nvidia and Intel, as well as various car companies, and the already well-defined auto-pilot camp.
It seems that Baidu does not care about such a "camp." In Lu Qi's words, "Apollo's cloud platform can support different chips from Intel and NVIDIA." The implication is that Baidu does not chip, and Intel and Nvidia's products do not converge, Nvidia has the GPU strength, and Intel is more advanced in the FPGA, CPU, future product competitiveness is not yet clear.
"Different from the mainland and Bosch, Intel and Nvidia have to do solutions, but there is no strong artificial intelligence technology." The industry insiders told reporters that Baidu will not take the whole industry, the auto industry is still professional, professional thing. After all, the primary consideration for consumers is the car brand, not the technical support behind Bosch or Baidu.
Even so, Lu Qi and Li Yanhong remained so confident and threatened to create a new world. It is not surprising that Baidu has such a big ambition because AI technology is new. Obviously, Baidu's technology is beyond doubt, but the core question is how Baidu will transform leading technologies into products.
It is worth noting that what is the profit model of Baidu's ecosystem? Industry sources told reporters that Baidu’s role in the Apollo ecosystem is more like a supplier, but unlike a traditional parts supplier, Baidu will not rely mainly on car companies to purchase products or technologies to profit, and Baidu’s profit model There is room for further imagination, and within Baidu has not fully considered maturity.
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