Internet big gun Baidu along with the car manufacturer Geely have set up a joint venture in China by the name Jidu. Today, this startup unveiled its first concept EV, which the pair likes to name Robo-01. Jidu’s cars will utilize the AI and software expertise of Baidu and that of car manufacturing of Geeely in manufacturing its cars.
The company calls its first-ever concept the robocar, which will inspire its upcoming vehicles that would the pioneer a new era of cars that the Baidu-Geely pair likes to call as the “Intelligent Car 3.0 Era” According to Jidu, the previous eras in the history of cars were the “Fuel Car 1.0 Era” and the “Electric Car 2.0 Era”.
Robo-01: Concept car design
The concept car was launched through an online press conference that was held on Baidu’s metaverse-themed app Xirang. The car has no door handles, operated entirely through voice commands.
The car that the pair intend to mass-produce in 2023 would 90% resemble the concept car. This car would be launched as a limited edition and will feature an active deformable structure design. It would also have a “3D borderless one-piece large screen”, “zero-gravity seating”, “AI pixel lights” and “dual max-computing chips”.
The car will come with Level 4 capabilities, ruling out the need for human involvement. Owners of the car would be able to use voice access even in the event of poor internet connection, thanks to the use of Qualcomm’s (QCOM.O) 8295 chips. The robocar concept suggests a great emphasis on AI given that the vehicle’s software abilities are based on a unique trainable neural network.
Jidu CEO Xia Yiping says the concept of car marks a shift of focus in car manufacturing from energy to product attributes. He expressed the company’s ultimate aim of realizing a fully driverless transportation experience.
