Google has been long focussing on the dream of getting self-driven cars on the road. Incidentally, a number of other global companies are trying to work in the same direction and outrun Google. In this aspect, Baidu – a Chinese concern – has been quite up to the mark. His company has been working on the concept for the last few years. It had entered into a partnership with BMW in 2014. Baidu senior vice president Wang Jin has recently announced that the new self-driving car will be launched by the end of the year along with the German manufacturer.
Jin was present at the China Cloud Computing Services Summit. He said that the prototype model will be utilised to test the autonomous technology of Baidu. However, the company is aiming at a little less scope than Google. Kai Yu, head of deep learning at Baidu said that previously the company had focussed on assisting drivers rather than replacing them. However, recently, it was noted that Baidu’s efforts were as good as that of Google. Last year, it had also invested a sum of USD 10 million in IndoorAtlas, which is a Finnish navigation company, which would add expertise to its mapping-service.
The technology behind the self-driven cars is rapidly surging ahead. However, its arrival on the roads is lagging comparatively due to strict laws. However, China might be such a company, which is more lenient in this aspect. China might as well be the first country to start operations of these cars on road, while the Western governments come to the conclusion as who to blame if these cars cause some major fatalities. Baidu is not sharing the details of the car; however, if all is well, Google will have some solid competition by the end of 2015.
