Baidu completes public road test of driverless car in Silicon Valley

Chinese internet and technology giant Baidu has completed a road test of its L4 driverless car, which is equipped with its Apollo2.0 autonomous driving platform, reports thepaper.cn.

China's internet giant Baidu plans to release its driverless car equipped with Appolo2.0 autonomous driving platform at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show, January 9, 2018. [Photo: VCG]

Baidu conducted this road test on Friday at its research center in Sunnyvale in Silicon Valley.

The center, which mainly focuses on autonomous driving research, was launched in November 2017.

It is the third research center in the United States for Baidu. It is also the internet giant's second office in Silicon Valley.

According to SAE International, a U.S.-based standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries, vehicle automation is categorized into six levels, from L0 to L5. The higher the level, the more automated the vehicle is.

Both occupied and unoccupied vehicles that are qualified for L4, or Full Self-Driving Automation, are designed to perform all safety-critical driving functions and monitor roadway conditions without human control.

In April last year, Baidu announced the "Apollo" project, which provides an open, complete and reliable software platform for its partners in the automotive and autonomous driving industry to develop their own autonomous driving systems.

It's reported that Baidu's Appolo2.0 autonomous driving platform will be officially released on Tuesday at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.