Photo taken on July 4, 2018 shows the assembling line of Apolong at its manufacturing facility in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province.
(ECNS) - Baidu, China's internet search giant, has started mass production of the self-driving bus Apolong, said CEO Robin Li on Wednesday.
At Baidu Create 2018, the company's annual AI developer conference, Li said Baidu's autonomous mini buses produced in partnership with Chinese manufacturer King Long have rolled off the assembly line.
Calling it a milestone, Li said vehicle making is not the same as a PowerPoint presentation, so there are delays, but he had kept the promise he made last year.
This driverless bus outfitted with Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving system will be put in service in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiong'an New Area and property projects by developer Country Garden.
Baidu will also work with SoftBank to run the mini bus in Tokyo, where it will be used at nuclear power plants and elderly communities.
Li said that, in the next step, Baidu would also make efforts to develop automated trucks.
Baidu announced a partnership with Intel in the fields of autonomous driving and artificial intelligence, including powering Baidu’s Xeye, a new AI retail camera, and in optimizing Baidu’s deep learning framework PaddlePaddle.
