Baidu Apollo has recently upgraded its organizational structure, adding a new intelligent transportation business group in addition to upgrades to the original business groups such as autonomous driving and connected cars.
Apollo's self-driving business group has been upgraded and now has three departments, including the intelligent car business department, the intelligent driving map business department and the autonomous driving technology department.
The original car networking business group continues to manage smart car connected services such as small-scale car OS.
The newly-added intelligent transportation business group will focus on the intelligent upgrade of transportation infrastructure and provide cities with next-generation intelligent transportation solutions such as vehicle-road collaboration systems and regional intelligent signal optimization systems.
Data show that Baidu's total number of intelligent driving patent applications reached 1,237 in China, surpassing many large foreign car companies and domestic universities and research institutions. It has a total of 150 autonomous driving test licenses.
In addition to autonomous driving, Apollo has made extensive plans to enter the field of intelligent transportation this year.
It has signed cooperation agreements in the field of intelligent networking and intelligent transportation with more than 10 cities including Changsha, Chongqing, Cangzhou, Baoding, etc., and its intelligent transportation "city network" It is spreading rapidly across the country.
There are more than 60 car brands equipped with Apollo connected car functions, and more than 300 models have been listed. The cooperation intention will reach more than 500 models in the next two years.
According to analysis, after the adjustment, Apollo will increase investment in technology research and development in the field of autonomous driving, and vigorously promote the commercialization of autonomous driving products.