JAKARTA - A subsidiary of Baidu which has been developing electric vehicles (EV), Jidu Auto, on Wednesday, June 8, launched a "robot" concept car. This is the first vehicle exhibited by the Chinese internet company.
The concept car, which is free of doorknobs and fully controllable via voice recognition, was launched via an online press conference held on the Xirang app, which is themed on the Baidu metaverse.
Jidu, an EV venture controlled by Baidu and co-funded by Chinese automaker Geely. They plan to mass-produce the model, which is 90% similar to the concept car, by 2023.
This 'robotic' EV will have Level 4 autonomous EV capability that does not require human intervention while running as well as use the Qualcomm 8295 chip, which will allow users to access voice assistance offline when the internet connection is poor.
Baidu's EV plans come as tech companies around the world race to develop smart cars after Tesla's success in commercializing electric vehicles.
Apart from equipping the vehicles with autonomous driving software technology powered by Baidu, Jidu will also build two lidars and 12 cameras on the side of the car. Lidar is a detection system, similar to radar, that uses a pulsed laser beam.
"The Jidu Robocar aims to meet users' needs for smart travel ... and smart cabins in the new era," said Joe Xia Yiping, Jidu's chief executive, as quoted by Reuters. "The ultimate goal is to realize a completely driverless transport experience."
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"This Jidu car will target users who like cutting-edge technology," Luo Gang, head of operations at Jidu, told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
The EV will be manufactured in Hangzhou Bay in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo, where Geely also has several factories.
Jidu has hired former Cadillac designer Frank Wu as its head of design, and Wang Weibao, a former member of Apple Inc's EV initiative on Project Titan, as its head of smart driving.
Jidu's first model will be priced above 200.000 yuan (IDR 436 million), Baidu chief executive Robin Li said at a press conference last month.
Meanwhile, smartphone makers, Xiaomi Corp and Didi Global, are some of the other Chinese tech giants pursuing the ambition of making autonomous EV cars.
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