On May 15th, at the Apollo Day 2024 conference, Baidu Apollo officially launched its sixth generation unmanned vehicle - the Yi Chi 06, priced at 20.46 million RMB (approximately $3.21 million) and the first batch will be delivered to Luobo Kuai Pao (Car Rental Service) with 1000 units.
The new car is a collaborative model between Baidu Apollo and Jiangling New Energy, with a design between SUV and MPV, featuring sliding doors. The dimensions of the new car are 4765/1885/1715mm in length, width, and height respectively, with a wheelbase of 2830mm.
According to reports, this new car will be equipped with the Baidu Apollo sixth generation intelligent system solution, featuring 7 categories and 40 sensors, with a computing platform power of 1200 Tops, as well as full-dimensional safety redundancy.
In terms of driving planning, the new car will achieve compliance, obstacle avoidance, maneuvering, prediction, and learning human driving behavior. For example, when meeting on a narrow road, the vehicle will dynamically search for a route and yield passing position to oncoming vehicles.
TapTechNews noted that Baidu also announced that its mass-produced L2 assisted driving will be upgraded to ASD (Apollo Self-Driving), and the Jiyue series models will be the first to be equipped, soon realizing where there is Baidu Map, Apollo autonomous driving can operate.
In other aspects, this model uses the Star Cabin Zero Gravity seats, with six-way Star Wing headrests, large-angle electrically adjustable backrest, three-stage seat heating, ten-point seat massage, electric lumbar support, and high-resilience sponge filling; the maximum adjustable angle for the rear seats is 45 degrees, with legroom of 920mm, headroom of 998mm, and shoulder room of 1485mm. In terms of power, the new car will be equipped with a 110 kW electric motor and adopt a battery swapping mode.
In terms of overall vehicle cost, each generation's cost is halved, while capabilities are increased tenfold. Compared to the previous generation model, the sixth generation model, Yi Chi 06, reduces the overall vehicle cost by 60%, operating cost by 30%, and service cost by 80%.
Luobo Kuai Pao stated that its goal is to achieve breakeven in Wuhan by the end of 2024 and to enter a profit-making period in 2025. Wang Yunpeng, Vice President of Baidu Group and President of the Intelligent Driving Business Group, mentioned at the event that Tesla is still three to five years behind Baidu in terms of unmanned operation in Wuhan.