No Date Set for Baidu’s Plan to Put 100 Self-Driving Buses on Road

Baidu Inc. announced Wednesday it has reached a “milestone” by rolling out China’s first autonomous buses ready for commercial use, though it didn’t say when operations will begin.

The internet giant said it will build 100 self-driving, 14-seat minibuses named Apolong, which will have no steering wheel, driver’s seat, accelerator or brake.

Baidu said the buses will kick off commercial operations in several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shenzhen, Xiongan, Wuhan and Pingtan county, Fujian province. The company didn’t specify when they will hit the streets of these cities, however.

None of these cities, nor the country as a whole, has announced regulations covering the commercial operations of automated vehicles. Beijing became the first part of the country to permit the testing of self-driving vehicles late last year, and Shanghai followed in March. 

“2018 marks the first year of the commercialization of autonomous driving. From the mass production of Apolong, we can truly see that autonomous driving is making great strides — taking the industry from zero to one,” Baidu Chairman and CEO Robin Li said in a statement. 

The buses, which were developed with Fujian-province-based bus manufacturer Xiamen King Long Motor Group Co. Ltd., and are powered by Baidu’s Apollo self-driving system, will also eventually be sold overseas, the statement read, adding that Japan will be the first destination.

Baidu said it has teamed up with SB Drive Corp., an autonomous-driving subsidiary of Japan’s investment giant SoftBank Group Corp., to bring Apolong buses to Tokyo as early as 2019.

Last week, the U.S.’ second-largest carmaker, Ford Motor Co., said it will introduce Baidu’s AI solutions into its vehicles produced in China. 

Baidu has in recent years diversified into artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and autonomous driving after its major source of revenue — online advertising — took a beating in a 2016 scandal. 

Baidu on Wednesday also launched the “Kunlun” AI chip, which is similar to Google’s Tensor Processing Unit, used in machine-learning networks. The company said it can be used in data centers, public data clouds and self-driving vehicles.

China has for years struggled to make its domestic chip industry competitive with its rivals in the U.S. and Japan. AI chips represent an opportunity for China to break into the business of high-tech chip design, and have attracted investment from companies like Cambricon Technologies Corp., Horizon Robotics and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. 

Contact reporter Jason Tan (jasontan@caixin.com)