BMW makes unmanned Baidu in China

Chinese search engine Baidu collaborates with BMW on a joint project stimulated by the Chinese government. The project wants to combine BMW technology and detailed data on Chinese roads from Baidu, and by the end of this year to release trial versions of unmanned German cars on Chinese public roads.

“Chinese Google” Baidu, the most popular search engine in China, decided to keep up with its western competitor and also touch the fascinating world of robomobiles. But instead of developing an automatic car from scratch, the company entered into a cooperation agreement with the German concern BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG). The joint work of the two companies was announced in 2014, with a promise by 2017 to introduce an unmanned vehicle.

Some auxiliary systems (e.g. emergency stop assistant) are already used in BMW vehicles. The concern has already voiced its plans for a gradual transition to full automation of cars. Since 2011, an automatic driving system has been tested . The 2016 BMW 7 Series was recently unveiled with features such as “enforcing speed limits” (front camera and restrictive sign recognition software) and automatic parking without a driver.





By 2016, it is planned to equip the models with additional auxiliary systems. By 2020 - to create a highly automated prototype that can independently drive on separate sections of the road. And by 2025, a completely autonomous BMW robot should be created, which will be able to ride in all areas without requiring a person in the car.

While trial versions of BMW-Baidu will be tested on ordinary roads with the participation of a driver who will be able to take control in critical cases.

Meanwhile, Google itself is ready this summer to release its standalone electric car on DOP around Mountain View. The company plans to present the final version of the robomobile in 2020.

And we all look forward to a retaliatory move from Yandex and AvtoVAZ.