Baidu holds the most AI-related patents and has filed the most AI-related patent applications of among companies in China, a recent study published by two units of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) showed.
As of October 2020, the Beijing-based company has been granted 2,682 AI-related patents and has filed a total of 9,364 AI-related patent applications, ranking No. 1 in applications for the third consecutive year.
Baidu was followed by Tencent (8,450), Huawei (7,381), and Inspur (7,052), according to the report jointly issued by the China Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team and the Electronic Intellectual Property Center.
The report showed that Baidu is the leader of both patents and patent applications in multiple fields including deep learning (438 patents and 2,340 applications), natural language processing (NLP) (377 patents and 1,383 applications), intelligent speech (330 patents and 1,135 applications), and autonomous driving (283 patents and 1,928 applications).
Patented technologies in deep learning have been utilized in PaddlePaddle, Baidu's open-source industrial level deep learning platform, according to the company.
Baidu's core technological strengths in autonomous driving has enabled it to a global industry leader, empowering projects such as the Apollo Go Robotaxi service, which is open to the public in Beijing, Changsha, and Cangzhou.
Baidu's driverless taxi Apollo Robotaxi used in downtown area for first time
