Baidu’s self-driving car platform can park and respond to bumps

The Chinese internet company Baidu has announced that it has introduced a new version of its Apollo platform. This new version, Apollo 3.5, is capable of performing complex driving scenarios, such as parking and responding to speed bumps, according to the company.

Baidu says Apollo 3.5 is the first open source autonomous driving platform that can handle complex scenarios, such as speed bumps, emergency lanes, narrow lanes and autonomous parking. According to Baidu, the system can also handle a left turn at a traffic light, while giving way to oncoming traffic. Apollo 3.5 is compatible with the most advanced sensors available, such as the Velodyne VLS-128 LiDAR, according to Baidu.

Apollo is the name the Chinese tech giant has given to its self-developed platform for self-driving cars, which car manufacturers can use to make vehicles. Baidu says 130 companies worldwide are now using the Apollo platform. According to the company, Apollo 3.5 gives developers the tools they need to create self-driving applications, such as robot taxis and autonomous delivery services.

The Chinese internet company is also coming this year with such a service consisting of robot taxis. In the Chinese city of Changsha, a hundred will drive around on more than 200 km of roads. The taxis use Baidu’s V2X technology. This is a system that enables the vehicles to communicate with, for example, intelligent road infrastructure or traffic lights.

Baidu is also launching Apollo Enterprise, a variant of the Apollo platform specifically intended for vehicles entering mass production. These include functions for autonomous driving on the highway, autonomous parking without the driver inside and the use of ‘intelligent’ map data. Baidu says it is working with companies like Ford, Hyundai and Kia to make Apollo Enterprise available in their cars.