Skip to main content

Baidu autonomous car reaches milestone in Beijing

An autonomous car developed by Chinese language Internet search provider Baidu has successfully completed rigorous, fully autonomous tests on one route with mixed roads under a variety of environmental conditions, says the company. The Baidu autonomous car is the first in China to have demonstrated full autonomy under mixed road conditions, marking a milestone in China's autonomous driving effort. The road tests were carried out under complex road conditions, and the Baidu vehicle, a modified BMW 3 Serie
December 11, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
An autonomous car developed by Chinese language Internet search provider Baidu has successfully completed rigorous, fully autonomous tests on one route with mixed roads under a variety of environmental conditions, says the company.

The Baidu autonomous car is the first in China to have demonstrated full autonomy under mixed road conditions, marking a milestone in China's autonomous driving effort. The road tests were carried out under complex road conditions, and the Baidu vehicle, a modified BMW 3 Series, completed the tests by executing a comprehensive set of driving actions and accurately responding to the driving environment.

Baidu claims the car demonstrated full autonomy on the entirety of the 30 kilometre test route and successfully executed driving actions including making right turns, left turns and U-turns, decelerating when detecting vehicles ahead, changing lanes, passing other cars and merging into traffic from on-ramps and exiting from off-ramps. The car speed peaked at 100 km per hour during the test runs.

Baidu AutoBrain, the core of Baidu's autonomous driving technology, includes highly automated driving (HAD) maps, positioning, detection, smart decision-making and control.

Baidu's self-developed HAD maps record 3D road data to within a few centimetres of accuracy of vehicle positioning. With Baidu's leading object recognition and environment perception technology, the car can detect, recognise, and follow other vehicles with high accuracy; recognise road lanes; and accurately gauge distance and velocity.

"Fully autonomous driving under mixed road conditions is universally challenging, with complexity further heightened by Beijing's road conditions and unpredictable driver behaviour," said Wang Jing, SVP of Baidu and general manager of Baidu's newly established Autonomous Driving Business Unit.

Related Content

  • Australia's ground breaking average speed enforcement
    February 1, 2012
    The speed enforcement system on the Hume Highway in Australia combines both spot and point-to-point solutions. Here, Redflex's Peter Whyte discusses its implementation. The Australian State of Victoria has achieved notable success in reducing casualty rates since launching a three-pronged road accident prevention initiative in the late-1980s.
  • Researchers test cost-effective vehicle automation
    April 17, 2013
    Researchers at Oxford University in the UK are testing a combination of off-the-shelf technology which could enable a car to drive itself for sections of a familiar route. Dr Ingmar Posner of the University’s mobile robotics group is part of a team working on the car which he believes could affordably reach the showrooms in ten or fifteen years.
  • Inertial sensors dramatically improve GNSS for ITS applications
    January 18, 2012
    Phil Harris, Thales UK, on how fused sensor data can significantly enhance GNSS-based positioning systems' performance in urban areas. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based positioning is unique among available positioning technology due to its universal coverage and low equipment cost. By measuring the distances between an unknown position (such as a vehicle), and at least three known positions (GPS satellites), the unknown position can be calculated in three dimensions (latitude, longitude, and
  • Foundation funds research for informed campaigning
    April 29, 2015
    ITS International talks to Professor Stephen Glaister, director of the transport research and lobbying organisation, the RAC Foundation. It is through the eyes of an economist that Professor Stephen Glaister, emeritus professor of transport and infrastructure at Imperial College London and director of the RAC Foundation, views current and future transport problems. Having spent 30 years at the London School of Economics and another 10 at Imperial, the move to the RAC Foundation was a radical departure from