Google announced last January that they expect to be putting autonomous cars on the road within 5 years, and this week Baidu CEO Robin Li revealed at the Two Sessions that the Beijing-based tech giant has also been working with automaker partners on the research and development of smart cars, and that they aim to introduce a driverless car this year. This adds Baidu to the growing list of groups working on autonomous cars, the most notable of which being Google (and allegedly Apple with a top secret model in the works).
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How feasible is a driverless car in China? We're slightly skeptical, but the success thus far of Google's self-driving car is enough to keep us interested in Baidu's progress with the project. Depending on how it goes (and your degree of wide-eyed idealism), you might consider the idea a big step for congested Chinese highways, or a recipe for disaster.
When asked the particulars of Baidu's automaker partnerships, Li declined to answer, which does little to instill hope in one's heart. But Baidu's recent dabbling in the worlds of artificial intelligence and even self-driving bicycles hint that there may be more to be seen here.
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