Every reporter: Li Shuo and Dong Tianyi Every editor: Sun Lei Ms. Zhang found that a new model with blue and white flowers appeared on the road in the park, and the words "Apollo" were printed on the body.
Image source: Photo by reporter Dong Tianyi
The most important thing is that the driving seat of the vehicle is empty. This is a driverless car. On May 2, Baidu Apollo unmanned Robotaxi officially started normal commercial operation and opened the experience to the public. Baidu said that, unlike conventional autonomous vehicles, the Robotaxi opened by Baidu Apollo this time can be completely unmanned.
After on-the-spot experience, the reporter of "Daily Economic News" found that there is indeed no driver in the main driver's seat, and a safety officer is on duty in the co-pilot seat, but unfortunately, the vehicle cannot currently drive according to the route specified by the passenger , you can only choose among several fixed lines, and the one-way distance is short.
It is understood that the current Beijing , Shanghai , Guangdong , Hubei and other places have all carried out the exploration of unmanned vehicles on the road. According to incomplete statistics, as of the end of 2020, a total of 27 cities in China have issued the policy for autonomous driving testing, and the mileage of open test roads has exceeded 3,000 kilometers, but few commercial operations.
The price of a car at the same distance is 3 times that of a taxi.
"This is just for young people to follow the fashion and 'play'. We will not choose." Ms. Zhang told reporters that during the "May 1st" period, she also wanted to experience unmanned. Driving a taxi , but after learning that the single charge is 30 yuan, he backed out. "It costs tens of yuan to walk a few minutes away, and the price is a bit high," said Ms. Zhang.
According to the reporter's understanding, due to road construction, the Baidu Apollo connection sites in Shougang Park have been reduced from 7 to 3. Among them, the farthest away from "Qunming Lake" to "Wuyi Theater East" station is about 800 meters, and the one-way walking time is about 10 minutes. It only takes 2 minutes to take the Baidu Apollo driverless Robotaxi, but it costs 30 yuan for the ride.
Image source: Every photo taken by reporter Dong Tianyi
This also means that the price of Baidu Apollo’s unmanned Robotaxi is nearly three times that of Beijing taxis, which is consistent with the price of “six-seat commercial vehicles” on the Didi platform . The starting price of the "Special 108" bus in the park is basically the same as its route and time is only 2 yuan.
"We don't know what the pricing logic is. The prices in the APP are all set, of course, this is also set by the company." Liu Fei (pseudonym), security officer of Baidu Apollo's unmanned Robotaxi, told reporters that during the "May Day" period, Baidu Apollo once launched an activity to send scenic spot experience coupons by car. Passengers spend 30 yuan to get a ticket for Shougang Park scenic spots worth 40 yuan, but this promotion has been canceled after the "May Day" holiday.
Official data shows that since the commercial operation started on May 2, Baidu Apollo's unmanned Robotaxi in Shougang Park has completed a total of 848 orders during the 4-day "May Day" holiday, with an average daily order of 212 orders and 1,500 passengers. trips. However, according to Liu Fei, with the end of the event, the number of passengers who came to experience Baidu Apollo's unmanned Robotaxi has dropped sharply, and in recent days, few passengers have come to experience it.
In fact, with the rapid development of autonomous driving technology , driverless Robotaxi has been regarded as an important part of future travel services, and many companies around the world such as Waymo, Tesla , Baidu, Didi, etc. in the field for many years.After completing the commercialization "first show" this time, Baidu Apollo has also become the second company in the world after Waymo and the first company in China to start the commercial operation of the unmanned Robotaxi. Some analysts believe that exploring the feasibility of and of the business model is not the focus of Baidu Apollo's commercial operation, but its driving role and symbolic significance to the development of the industry is the key.
"The introduction of driverless services is an essential stage for the commercialization of autonomous driving," said Wang Yunpeng, vice president and general manager of Baidu's driverless technology.
Image source: Photo by reporter Dong Tianyi
In terms of ride experience, Baidu Apollo's unmanned Robotaxi has greatly improved compared to the previous test and operation stage. Not only has the primary driver's seat become empty, but the actual road ride is smoother and smarter.
"When merging and overtaking, you can clearly feel that the automatic driving function is more 'smarter'." In Liu Fei's view, compared to when he first served as a safety officer three years ago, the "level" of Baidu Apollo's automatic driving has improved significantly. . "Unconventional phenomena such as emergency braking in the absence of a car have been reduced by more than 80%." Liu Fei said that although the new car is equipped with auxiliary devices such as "auxiliary brakes" in the co-pilot position, it is basically not used in the actual driving process.
Autonomous driving has entered the second half of the competition for
In fact, the industry has not reached a consensus on when self-driving cars can land .
"Unmanned driving represents the future direction, but to promote the safe and efficient large-scale commercialization of Robotaxi in China requires the cooperation of enterprises and the government, and breakthroughs are needed in the market access, policy and legal supervision of unmanned driving." Auto X founder and chairman CEO Xiao Jianxiong said in an interview with a reporter from "Daily Economic News".
At the policy level in China, the importance of promoting the development of autonomous driving technology is also increasing. In April, the "Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone Overall Implementation Plan" was officially released. The plan proposed five major tasks and measures, and established the top-level design framework for autonomous driving management in the policy pilot zone. Previously, Shenzhen had issued a public notice on the "Administrative Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Intelligent Connected Vehicles (Draft for Comment)" for public consultation, using the legislative rights of the special economic zone to implement legislation on the entire chain of intelligent connected vehicles, Clear legal obstacles for the innovative development of intelligent and connected vehicles.
Image source: Every photo by reporter Dong Tianyi
"At present, there are few precedents in the world in terms of safety standards, division of responsibilities, network security and data protection for autonomous vehicles, but the development of technology requires clear regulatory ideas. In this context, many cities in the world, including China, are actively exploring and piloting. Beijing's policy pilot zone can be used as an experimental base for autonomous driving legislation, and its management experience can accumulate valuable experience for future local or national legislation ” said He Shanshan, a specially-appointed expert in the Beijing High-level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone and director of the Autonomous Driving Legal Policy Center of the Zhilian Mobility Research Institute.
There are optimists who believe that autonomous driving has entered the second half of the competition. Peng Jun, co-founder and CEO of Pony.ai said that the first half of autonomous driving is the stage of building mature technologies, products and accumulating experience. Simply put, it is to prove the feasibility of the technology. In the second half, in addition to commercialization, what is more important is the real "volume", that is, the process from research and development to mass production.
"In the first half, it is best to put everything on the top, and in the second half, we must consider various issues such as supply, cost, durability, and adaptability.Importantly, in order to be able to adapt to a variety of different scenarios, continuous iteration of technology is required. "Peng Jun believes that in the future, AI can integrate all the driving skills of predecessors, and achieve rapid replication, becoming an experienced "old driver". The short-term prospects.” (Autonomous driving scale landing) Conservatively speaking, it will take 10 years. According to Jiang Wei, a professor at Shanghai Jiaotong University Antai School of Economics and Management, in addition to the lack of a quantitative indicator system in the industry, autonomous driving also has many factors such as policies, regulations, technology, and costs that need to be broken through.
"Any algorithm and computing power have limits. , it is possible to make mistakes, and this mistake is not transferred by human will. We have installed some equipment in the car countless times to make the car's decision-making more reliable, but in theory, no technology is 100% reliable; once it leaves the current closed scene, what is the recognition ability of automatic driving? Jiang Wei believes that fully autonomous driving is a paradox and cannot be achieved at present. "We need a quantitative index system that can be implemented for it, so that fully autonomous vehicles can finally land." Jiang Wei said.
Regardless of the expectations for the future, the R&D and application of autonomous driving technology has indeed accelerated. Huatai Securities believes that 2020~2030 is the "golden decade" for the development of autonomous driving. Driving mass production still needs the introduction of regulations, L4 and L5 autonomous driving requires breakthroughs in AI technology to be commercialized, and the short-term launch of L2+ advanced driver assistance systems has become the first choice of domestic and foreign car companies. In order to improve product competitiveness, domestic Joint ventures and autonomous car companies will speed up the promotion of assisted driving and intelligent cockpit configuration, and the ADAS industry chain and intelligent cockpit industry chain are expected to develop rapidly.
Daily Economic News
