Recently, “Apollo Go”, an online car hailing service for driverless people, has become popular in Wuhan.
A user in Wuhan claimed that he didn’t want to wait for the bus after work. He directly asked Apollo Go to experience driverless driving for the first time, and the fare was very cheap.
It is said that the fare for a 10 kilometer journey is only 4-16 yuan, while ordinary ride hailing services like Didi cost around 18-30 yuan.
In addition, Apollo Go still operates around the clock in 7 × 24 hours, and users need not worry about not getting a car in the middle of the night.
Joe was very tempted to see this and couldn’t help but want to give it a try. The place where I used to go to school was quite remote, it was 2-3 kilometers away from the nearest subway station, and every time I took a Didi, it cost at least 15-18 yuan!
Apollo Go is an automatic driving travel service platform under Baidu, which is based on the automatic driving technology of Baidu Apollo. The platform was launched in August 2021 and provides autonomous vehicle travel services in multiple cities. Users can book a taxi through the app or mini program.
In recent years, driverless technology has also gradually come into our vision. Among many driverless platforms, Apollo Go has quickly become a leader in the market with its unique technical advantages and operation mode. So, what makes it so special?
Compared with other platforms, Apollo Go has obvious advantages in the following aspects:
Leading technology: Apollo Go uses the most advanced artificial intelligence and sensor technology to ensure that the vehicle can run safely under complex road conditions.
- Large model driven autopilot: Baidu Apollo ADFM (Autonomous Driving Foundation Model) is the first large model in the world to support L4 level autopilot. Based on the large model technology, auto drive system can be reconstructed to give consideration to the safety and generalization of technology.
2. City level comprehensive coverage of complex scenes: This technology can achieve coverage of city level comprehensive complex scenes, ensuring safety and reliability in various complex environments.
3. Intelligent obstacle avoidance and prediction: Apollo ADFM simulates human driving behavior, improves the perception ability of autonomous vehicles, and can achieve more difficult driving actions such as intelligent obstacle avoidance, gaming, and prediction.
4. Hardware configuration and safety redundancy design: the hardware configuration and safety redundancy design have been significantly improved, ensuring the high safety of the auto drive system.
In addition, Baidu has also released the sixth generation unmanned vehicle, which fully applies the “Baidu Apollo ADFM big model+hardware products+safety architecture” solution, ensuring the stability of the vehicle through a 10 fold safety redundancy scheme and a 6-fold MRC safety strategy.
User experience: The platform focuses on user experience, continuously optimizing algorithms and interface design to make passengers feel comfortable and convenient while riding in autonomous vehicles.
Safety guarantee: Apollo Go has invested heavily in vehicle safety. It not only uses the best materials in hardware, but also provides multi-level safety protection in software.
Affordable price: For example, only 4 yuan is needed for 6 kilometers, which makes it affordable for many ordinary citizens and further enhances its popularity.
Data shows that by April 2024, Apollo Go has provided more than 6 million cumulative units in developing roads, ranking the world’s largest automated travel service provider. In addition, Wuhan citizens generally have a high level of satisfaction with ride hailing services using autonomous vehicles, and the number of orders is also constantly increasing.
Self driving safety comes first
According to statistics, over 90% of road traffic accidents in 2023 are related to human error.
So, like Joe, we must have thought about the safety and reliability of driverless driving. What measures has Apollo Go taken in this regard?
- Strict safety measures: Through strict safety measures, the occurrence of traffic accidents caused by human error has been greatly reduced.
2. Safety training system: A safety education and training system has been established that covers the main responsible persons, safety management personnel, safety officers, and all employees. Combined with actual operational situations, rich, flexible, diverse, and targeted safety training has been organized and carried out.
3. Safety Production Month Activity: Conduct the “Baidu Apollo Safety Production Month” activity nationwide, ensuring the safety of autonomous driving through various forms such as safety lectures, education and training, hidden danger investigation and management, and emergency drills.
4. Vehicle reliability inspection and daily maintenance: Pay close attention to vehicle operation safety, carry out vehicle reliability inspection and daily maintenance, and promote standardized management of vehicle operations.
5. Preset safety algorithm: In case of emergencies, such as severe weather such as rainstorm, the driverless taxi will judge according to the preset safety algorithm, temporarily choose to stop at the roadside, and wait for the weather to improve to ensure the safety of passengers.
6. Technical testing and application: Tested and applied in multiple scenarios, demonstrating good stability and reliability, capable of completing established tasks in various road conditions.
7. Passenger safety definition: Baidu has achieved that autonomous driving is safer than human driving, and the new definition of unmanned vehicles for passenger safety further enhances safety.
65 cities in 5 years
Apollo Go plans to expand its service to 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030. Mainly includes the following strategies and objectives:
- Multi scenario coverage: Baidu Apollo’s layout strategy is multi scenario coverage, not only focusing on Robotaxi business, but also achieving multi scenario layout through joint ventures and partnerships.
- Number of cities to expand: According to Baidu Apollo’s operation plan, Apollo Go will expand to 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030. This goal demonstrates Baidu’s ambitious vision in the field of autonomous driving.
- Commercialization pilot and all unmanned automatic driving service: Apollo Go has carried out the commercialization pilot of automatic driving in Beijing pilot area, and has carried out the test of all unmanned automatic driving travel service in several cities such as Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, etc. For example, by 2024, full coverage of Wuhan will be achieved and 1000 sixth generation mass-produced unmanned vehicles will be put into operation.
- Scale effect and cost reduction: With the increase of advertising volume, the operating cost of bicycles will significantly decrease, and scale effect may be reflected. It is expected to achieve breakeven in Wuhan by the end of 2024 and profitability by 2025.
- Policy support and market acceptance: Benefiting from policy support, Apollo Go has made remarkable achievements in Beijing and other places, and has a high acceptance among young people.
Apollo Go plans to cover 65 cities in the next five years through multi scene coverage, expanding the number of cities, commercial pilot and all unmanned automatic driving services, scale effect and cost reduction strategies, and ultimately achieve profitability and promote the popularization of automatic driving technology.
Looking at the Future from the Perspective of Technological Revolution
The advancement of technology has not only changed our way of life, but also profoundly influenced human thinking and behavior patterns. Looking back, every technological revolution has had a profound impact on human society:
- Industrial Revolution: During the Industrial Revolution, steam engines and mechanized production required workers on factory assembly lines to repeatedly perform monotonous, mechanical work. Although this mode greatly improves production efficiency, it also makes workers’ work monotonous and repetitive like machines.
- Information revolution: The computer and Internet revolution in the second half of the 20th century made people’s work and life highly dependent on computers and network systems. Many office and management tasks have been replaced by computer programs and systems. In the process of using computers, people need to constantly adapt and learn the operation of various software and systems, just like an “information processor”.
Nowadays, the fourth technological revolution represented by artificial intelligence and autonomous driving is attempting to make “machines look like humans”. This is not only a technological advancement, but also a redefinition of human abilities and lifestyles.
The technological revolution of the past made humans look like machines, and now machines become like humans. “This is not only a description of technological progress, but also a vision for the future of humanity. With the continuous development of Apollo Go and other platforms, we have reason to believe that a more intelligent and convenient future is coming to us. We hope that through this article, you can have a more comprehensive understanding of Apollo Go and look forward to more surprises and convenience it will bring us in the future.
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