Asian Tech Press (Dec 27) -- At the Baidu Create 2021 (Baidu AI Developer Conference), Baidu's founder, chairman and CEO Robin Li said that Baidu's EV firm Jidu Auto will announce its first concept car in the first half of 2022 and deliver its first "robocar" in mass production in 2023.

According to the introduction, the car robot developed by Jidu will have L4-level self-driving capability and will run through the three product concepts of "free movement," "natural communication," and "self-growth." Robin Li said that the revolutionary car robot with emotion and intelligence will bring a long-term change in the way of travel.

Robin Li believes that intelligent transportation can solve three major problems: first, reduce road safety accidents by 90%. Second, the system solves the problem of congestion. Third, autonomous driving and intelligent transportation can help reduce carbon emissions. "Data shows that human factors cause 94 percent of traffic accidents, and autonomous driving will eliminate human factors." Robin Li said.

In Robin Li's view, as technology matures, autonomous driving will be safer than human drivers. Meanwhile, Baidu's intelligent road system enables unimpeded traffic through vehicle-road collaboration. Experimental data proves that when all intersections in a city are smart and optimized for city-level regional letter control, it can improve traffic efficiency by 15-30%.