Baidu’s new AI simulator gives robotaxis a crash course in rare road hazards
For autonomous vehicles, the hardest lessons to learn are the ones that can test the skills of even the most experienced human drivers: an errant cyclist darting through a red light, or an animal bolting into oncoming traffic from behind a corner. The Chinese tech giant Baidu has developed a new AI-driven simulator to prepare its Apollo robotaxis for just such rare but high-stakes road hazards,…
Baidu, the Chinese tech giant, has developed a new AI-driven simulator called Apollo World to prepare its Apollo robotaxis for rare but high-stakes road hazards. The simulator can generate complete virtual journeys from scratch, allowing the company to prepare vehicles for scenarios that are difficult to capture safely in real-world testing.
During a demo, Baidu's Intelligent Driving Group showcased the new "world model," which can react in real time to the vehicle's steering, braking, and acceleration, generating synchronized camera images and lidar data. The platform is crucial for Baidu's push into cross-border road networks, as it allows for the adaptation of robotaxis to diverse geographies using end-to-end data learning.
The Beijing-based company's project reflects a broader shift across the global autonomous driving sector towards AI-generated training environments.
Brief written by urgent.news from SCMP Tech's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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