Honda joins Baidu's Apollo platform to make self-driving cars a reality

Recently, according to a report by the Nikkei, Honda's R&D subsidiary Honda Research Institute officially joined the Apollo autonomous driving development alliance established by Baidu, becoming the first Japanese automaker to join the alliance.

In July 2017, Baidu established the Apollo Autonomous Driving Development Alliance. According to official data, the number of partners connected to the Apollo platform has exceeded 100, and this number is still growing. The alliance covers world-class vehicle manufacturers, automotive suppliers, chip companies, sensor companies, map companies, cloud service companies, startups, research institutions and potential domestic partners. Among them, vehicle manufacturers include Chery Automobile, FAW Group, Changan Automobile Group, Great Wall Motors, Ford and Daimler; Tier 1 suppliers include Bosch, Continental Automotive, ZF Friedrichshafen, Desay SV Automotive; key component suppliers include NVIDIA, Microsoft Cloud, ZTE, speed generators, etc.

It is reported that the "Apollo Project" began using commercial vehicles for driving tests in 2018 and expanded to passenger vehicles in 2019.

Honda realized the practical application of a high-performance car navigation system in 2015. With the navigation technology accumulated, the high-precision digital maps produced through the Apollo program will contribute to the practical application of self-driving cars in the future.

In addition, Honda has cooperation in China in the fields of automation, networking and other new-generation automobile development technologies. In terms of image recognition technology used in autonomous driving, it cooperates with Hong Kong startup SenseTime. In the field of connected cars, it cooperates with Alibaba Group.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.