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Business/Finance See other Business/Finance Articles Title: China's Baidu rushing into driverless car technology: Sina blog Want... Search engine Baidu's recent announcement about a plan to launch driverless cars during the second half of this year is worrisome, reports Sina's technology blog. Baidu senior vice president Wang Jin, who also heads the company's Technical Strategy Committee and Security Committee, announced during the China Cloud Computing Conference in Beijing, held between June 3-5, the company's plan to launch a driverless car. According to Wang, Baidu is not building the car itself, but is working with auto companies, focusing instead on developing the internal systems to be used in the vehicles. It is not news that Baidu is developing driverless cars. There were reports a few months ago about the company and the Ministry of Transport testing such vehicles, according to the blog. Baidu has invested heavily in facial and audio recognition, and mapping services, and has established a database for location-based services that can be used in an online-to-offline business model. These have helped Baidu build its strength to create a business model that can generate profit from driverless cars, said the blog. The question is whether the recognition technology can handle more complicated environments on the road. There was a glitch during a demonstration by Baidu's CEO Robin Li in the audio recognition system during Lenovo's Tech World event in Beijing May 28, for instance, according to the blog. During the demonstration, Baidu's translation app failed to recognize what Li said and translated his words wrongly. At the time, Li blamed the microphone used at the event, saying that the reception was affected by background noise, but Sina said Baidu's system will face an even noisier environment on the road and that the company is likely to spend more time addressing the issue. This makes the planned launch of a driverless car seem rushed, Sina said, especially when ground tests on the vehicle conducted by Baidu and the transport ministry have just begun, said the blog. In addition, the mechanical parts of cars produced in China are still controlled by foreign suppliers, making it difficult for Baidu to design a reliable system that can control a car unless the Chinese company works with foreign auto businesses, Sina said. Although an in-car system can be a source of lucrative income, Sina said Baidu should slow down in the development of driverless cars, given the safety issues involved, said the blog. Baidu could work first on smart features that can be used by car drivers, such as voice-controlled navigation, and a system that warns the driver about dangers posed by other vehicles and pedestrians, said the blog. As well, Baidu can further improve and perfect its technology in facial and audio recognition and sensors through the introduction of such smart features before combining them with the mechanical aspects of a car. There is no need to rush, since driverless car technology involves the safety and lives of people. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
This shit just seems like a really, really, bad idea.
“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
Just wait until you're on in years and they take your driver's license away.
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