Chinese search giant Baidu blows $1.9 BEELION on app store Chinese search giant Baidu has splashed a cool $1.9 billion (£1.26bn) on popular mobile app store firm 91 Wireless Websoft, in another sign of the growing value of the mobile internet. In a brief statement, Baidu said it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding to acquire 100 per cent of 91 Wireless, a subsidiary of Hong Kong- …
Chinese search giant and AI cloud company Baidu has landed on the US Securities and Exchange Commission's provisional list of companies it might de-list because of opaque disclosures.
The name of the law that permits such listings is the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA). The act requires some companies that issue securities in the USA to allow local auditors to understand how many of its shares are owned by governments, if governments exercise control over the company, and whether any officials or regulations are connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
Baidu filed its annual report a couple of days ago, and in a statement today suggested that document has somehow earned it a place on the SEC's list.
China's Securities Regulatory Commission has opened a consultation on revised regulations aimed at avoiding trouble for local tech companies that list on US stock markets.
In recent weeks the NASDAQ stock exchange warned Chinese tech companies Baidu and Weibo – and more besides – that they face suspension from the bourse because they don't allow the US government to see audits of their finances.
Washington wants to see those audits under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) – a law that requires some companies that issue securities in the US to disclose how many of their shares are owned by governments, if governments exercise control over the company, and whether any officials or regulations are connected to the Chinese Communist Party.
Chinese web giant Baidu has revealed plans to introduce its autonomous taxi service to 65 cities by the year 2025, then add another 35 cities by 2030.
CEO and co-founder Robin Li revealed those targets on Tuesday during the company's Q4 2021 earnings call – on which he also stated that Apollo Go autonomous taxi service provided 213,000 rides in the quarter, almost doubling patronage. The service offers Level Four autonomy, so can only operate without human control in geofenced areas. And the company still has "safety drivers" in some cities, to ensure timely interventions in the name of safety.
Li also revealed that Baidu has even started to charge for rides in its auto-taxis – albeit only in Beijing, Chongqing, and Yangquan.
Baidu Research's AI-centric "Top 10 Tech Trends in 2022" report has outlined the Middle Kingdom megacorp's predictions for technology over the coming year.
Baidu CTO Haifeng Wang describes AI as a "key driving force of innovation and development," thanks to rapidly evolving core technologies, cross-domain connectivity, and expanding applications.
It's no surprise that the list focuses on AI given Baidu's business domain. The Beijing-based company's search engine captures over 70 per cent of the Chinese market while also developing other products, particularly AI research and cloud computing. The research arm takes a deeper look at its associated technologies. Think Google but Chinese.
Chinese driverless car company Pony.ai has scored an unwanted first: it's recalled some versions of its AI software from US roads after admitting to faults.
Recalls of unsafe products are common in the auto industry but this is thought to be the first ever such action performed on self-driving software.
Pony.ai was founded in 2016 by Chinese developers who had worked in the States. It quickly attracted plenty of investment, established an R&D hub in Guangzhou, China, and won permits to conduct on-road tests of its self-driving tech in California and China. The company even operated the US's first robo-taxi service and has moved to offer automated delivery services, using ten Hyundai Konas on Californian roads.
Baidu, China's biggest search engine company, says it has started making an AI chip that will enable applications ranging from cloud services to autonomous cars.
The 7nm process Kunlun II, announced yesterday at the annual Baidu World conference, has a max power consumption of 120W, and is claimed to be two to three times faster than its predecessor.
Baidu will both use the chip in-house and sell it to others. A canned statement said Kunlun II can be applied in multiple scenarios – cloud, terminal, and edge – for a range of uses like biocomputing and intelligent transportation. Not to mention, of course, a main feature of the conference: autonomous driving.
China has drafted new rules required of its autonomous and networked vehicle builders.
Data security is front and centre in the rules, with manufacturers required to store data generated by cars – and describing their drivers – within China. Data is allowed to go offshore, but only after government scrutiny.
Manufacturers are also required to name a chief of network security, who gets the job of ensuring autonomous vehicles can't fall victim to cyber attacks. Made-in-China auto-autos are also required to be monitored to detect security issues.
Chinese tech giant Baidu and state-owned BAIC Group's ARCFOX Brand have teamed to build 1000 autonomous electric vehicles (EVs) for use as taxis over the next three years — and claim they’ve cut manufacturing costs to just $75,000 apiece.
The announcement claims the reasonable price is due to maturation in technology and mass production capabilities and makes the vehicle, called the Apollo Moon, only one third of the cost of average L4 autonomous vehicles.
Apollo Moon has a projected operating cycle of over five years and is built on the fully electric midsize crossover SUV, Arcfox α-T. As for the tech, it uses the ANP-Robotaxi navigation platform, which is currently in pilot. Baidu claims the architecture can “reduce the weight of autonomous vehicle kits while sharing intelligent driving vehicle data to create a closed-loop information ecosystem.”
Swiss computer peripherals manufacturer Logitech has teamed with Chinese AI and internet company Baidu to make a voice-dictation mouse.
The Logitech Voice M380 wireless mouse looks and acts like a regular mouse but with a special button to initiate voice dictation. Baidu claimed recognition facilitates content creation at two to three times the speed of what one can type.
The device supports dictation in Chinese, English, and Japanese, and can translate content to English, Japanese, Korean, French, Spanish, and Thai. However, as of this month, you can only pick it up in China. There's no word on when or if it will be available elsewhere.
Chinese web giant Baidu has commenced operations of actual autonomous taxis on the streets of Beijing.
The Apollo robo-taxi service only operates in Shougang Park, an area of the capital city that will host some events in the 2022 Winter Olympics. Just ten self-driving cars are rolling in this first commercial test of the tech.
The cars are summoned with an Uber-like app and offer level-four autonomy – meaning they can independently drive in predefined geo-fenced areas, and allow humans to take the wheel if they feel it necessary.
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