Baidu

Rushed by investors and partners after the stunning launch of ChatGPT, Chinese web giant Baidu has launched its own anything-machine multimodal AI, with plans to integrate it into all its apps and services – but the company admits it may not be ready.

China's first fully autonomous, commercial robotaxi rides – with no safety drivers – are about to open for public passengers in Wuhan and Chongqing, marking an inflection point for one of the key technological revolutions of the 21st century.

Chinese tech giant Baidu has released its 6th gen, production-ready electric robotaxi, the Apollo RT6. Set to go into service in 2023, the RT6 represents the first of a new generation of autonomous taxis designed to drive ride costs into the ground.

Baidu has partnered with EV maker Arcfox, part of China's state-owned BAIC Group, to accelerate the commercialization of fully autonomous ride-hailing services, and to jointly release the latest version of the Apollo robotaxi.

Chinese technology giant Baidu has launched what is says is the country's first commercial robotaxi service, which will see its Apollo self-driving vehicles shuttle paying customers around Beijing's Shougang Park without a safety driver onboard.

Following hot on the heels of AutoX in Shenzhen, online search firm Baidu has been granted permission to test fully driverless vehicles – with no human safety driver aboard – on the streets of Beijing.

Baidu has announced that the hundredth Apolong self-driving mini bus has just rolled off the production line, making it the first fully autonomous electric bus to reach volume production. The vehicle will operate as a last mile transport solution in Chinese cities before launching globally in 2019.

Having followed Google's lead into smartglasses development, Baidu is now doing so with autonomous cars. The Chinese search firm says it has successfully tested a fully autonomous car under mixed road conditions, claiming it's the first in China to have done so.

Google's competitor in China, Baidu, is reportedly making its own Google Glass competitor.

Speaker Verification technology that lets a user unlock their device by speaking a passphrase makes its debut in the Lenovo Ideaphone A586 smartphone.