Baidu driverless taxi opened in Beijing, who is closer to the future than Google?

65438+1On October 8th, Google announced the full opening of Robotaxi (driverless taxi) in Phoenix, Arizona.

There seems to be competition. Two days later, Baidu's Apollo? GO driverless taxi also announced its full opening in Beijing.

What are the main operating vehicles? Based on Lincoln MKZ, Baidu has carried out technical transformation, installed sensor modules such as radar, camera and GPS on the roof, and equipped with two high-precision positioning receivers for sensing the surrounding environment.

There are also several large screens in the car to display real-time road conditions for passengers to check.

Regarding the technology of driverless driving, I wrote a popular science before-"About driverless driving, what you don't know". You can have a look if you are interested.

This is not the first time that Baidu has opened a driverless taxi service in Beijing. In September this year, they actually had a trial run for some time. However, unlike the opening in September, this experience does not require an appointment in advance. As long as the age is between 18-60, you can pass Baidu map or Apollo? Call a car.

In addition, it may be for security reasons or other reasons. At present, there are only 15 stations opened by Baidu unmanned taxis, which are located in Haidian District, Daxing District and Yizhuang Economic and Technological Development Zone, and the running time is from 10 to 4 pm. This means that you can't experience it in other areas or during commuting hours.

In addition, there are fewer vehicles running this time. According to the feedback from some users on the Internet, if there are many people calling for a taxi, it often takes dozens of minutes to get the order. ?

Secondly, although it is unmanned, there are still security officers in the car. The reason is that if there are traffic jams and road repairs, vehicles sometimes cannot be well identified. At that time, security officials will step in to ensure the safe operation of the vehicle.

Finally, in extreme weather (rainstorm, hail, etc. ), Baidu does not provide driverless services.

In short, Baidu's so-called "full opening" is actually somewhat exaggerated. At least at present, both the technical level and the product operation level are in a very imperfect stage.

In contrast, Google's driverless taxi service in Phoenix is far ahead in China. More precisely, they have moved from "trial operation" to real "commercialization"-opening to everyone, canceling the on-board security officer and charging. These three measures prove that Google's driverless taxi business project is more mature.

Of course, Google's success also has some objective factors. Phoenix's road is flat and empty, with a broad vision and a small population, and its technology and operation are much less difficult than Baidu's.

At the same time, it should be emphasized that Google actually has many obstacles in the process of project promotion. In other cities, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles and other cities with more complicated road conditions and more crowded people, they will also encounter the same difficulties as Baidu, which have not been well solved so far.

Coincidentally, in our country, Baidu is not the first company to open a driverless taxi service. This year alone, Didi and Gaode have operated driverless taxis in Guangzhou, Changsha and some areas respectively. But the overall experience and the cause of the problem are similar to Baidu.

Therefore, at present, whether at home or abroad, there is still a long way to go for driverless taxis to truly integrate into our lives. But one thing is certain. With the passage of time, the maturity of technology and the expansion of operation scale, the driverless taxi service will eventually land in the future.

By then, our mode of travel and the design of transportation may have changed a lot. I look forward to that day.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.