Shanghai (ZXZC)-Baidu announced a strategic partnership with Kong Long on Oct. 17. Based on Baidu Apollo's autonomous driving platform, the two parties will jointly develop mass-produced autonomous bus, which will be mass produced in small scale and pilot operation in July, 2018. It's a rare cooperative case which has concrete products after Baidu releasing Apollo's autonomous platform. Lu Qi, Baidu's President and COO who is responsible for promoting Apollo platform, also attended the signing ceremony.

In terms of the appearance, the to-be-released autonomous bus looks similar to the low-speed autonomous bus deployed by Uisee at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. It features complete self-driving ability in some specific situations, aiming to provide solutions to the last kilometer problem. If the autonomous bus can be widely used in campus and industry park, it will be more time-saving than riding sharing bicycles. 

What's worth mentioning, Baidu will not only provide Apollo platform's self-driving solutions, but also will take part in the design for exterior and interior, self-driving system and on-board human-computer interaction. Hence, Baidu's hardware will be also expected to be adopted on the autonomous bus. It is likely that the new bus will come fitted with Baidu's DuerOS voice interaction system.

It's not the first time for Baidu to cooperate with King Long. Last month, Baidu had showcased its self-driving technology in King Long midibus, and also opened up its highly precision maps of self-driving cloud service, and simulation testing, feeling and planning ability in software etc. at Apollo 1.5 technology press conference.

Apollo platform is releasing more abilities, and expanding more partnership. But in fact, the partnership bears little fruits. Commercial vehicle is believed to be more suitable for applying self-driving technology. On one hand, the cooperation between Baidu and King Long in developing autonomous bus perfectly proves Baidu's strength in self-driving technology. On the other hand, it is a commercialized exploration for the operation of man-carrying autonomous vehicles. Once the cooperation succeed, it will set a good example in Baidu Apollo's eco-system, attracting more and closer partnership for Baidu.