Baidu Lays Out Vision to Empower a New Era of Intelligent Industry at Create 2019

Leveraging its strengths and versatility in technologies

from Baidu Brain, Apollo, DuerOS, and Cloud, Baidu is connecting enterprises with AI

BEIJING, July 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) held Baidu Create 2019, its annual AI developer conference, where the company unveiled new partnerships and AI-powered solutions to drive the intelligent transformation of industry and connect enterprises with technologies. Robin Li, co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Baidu, said in his opening speech that AI is awakening all things and, as it is integrated into all facets of life, it will launch a new era of industrial intelligence.

At the two-day conference starting July 3, which was attended by more than 7,000 developers, partners and media from around the world, Baidu showcased the milestones that are driving the intelligent transformation of industry in China and around the world.

• Baidu announced it has entered a strategic partnership with China’s leading automaker Geely. Robin Li and Li Shufu, Chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, personally announced the partnership at the conference in a strong demonstration of the intelligent transformation of the automotive industry and the popularization of smart vehicles.
• Baidu and Pudong Development Bank debut “Xiaopu” - the first virtual customer service representative developed by the two partners’ joint laboratory of deep learning. “Xiaopu” aims to transform the traditional banking industry through the integration of AI.
• Baidu announced a collaboration between deep learning platform PaddlePaddle and Huawei’s Kirin Chip.
• DuerOS 5.0 includes an all-new ‘full-duplex’ feature, allowing Xiaodu devices to respond without the need for a wake word.
• Baidu showcased its first L4 autonomous passenger vehicle production line in collaboration with Hongqi of leading carmaker FAW Group.

In addition to these highlight announcements, Baidu gave an in-depth look at how its expansive AI-driven technologies are serving as sources for both good and growth in an age of intelligence.

Baidu Brain Strengthens Integrated AI Platform Capacity

The intelligent transformation of industry is backed by Baidu’s continuous technological breakthroughs in AI. As a global leading open AI platform, Baidu Brain was officially upgraded to Baidu Brain 5.0 at Baidu Create 2019, becoming an integrated AI software and hardware platform for mass production that achieves a synergy of innovation from AI algorithms, computing architecture and application scenarios. To support this transformation, Baidu also announced that its deep learning platform PaddlePaddle has partnered with Huawei’s Kirin Chip to collaboratively lay a foundation for the future development of AI in China.

At the algorithm level, PaddlePaddle has upgraded its core algorithms for vision, voice, language and knowledge. At the computational level, Baidu has released the latest iteration of its AI Chip, "Honghu," which is developed for remote voice interaction and can adapt to diversified scenarios, such as in-vehicle voice interaction and smart homes.

A Robust Mobile Ecosystem Bolsters Core Baidu Business

With the continuous evolution of AI technology breakthroughs, Baidu’s AI-driven applications are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and authoritative. To date, the number of daily active users of Baidu App has reached 188 million and the number of monthly active devices running Baidu mobile apps has reached 1.1 billion.

With its open-source approach, Baidu Smart Mini Program has brought a unique mobile ecosystem to the industry and now counts 250 million monthly active users across its 150,000 Smart Mini Programs. More than 100 brands have joined on to Baidu’s Smart Mini Program platform thanks to the e-commerce solution plan created in collaboration with Youzan. After using the Baidu App to search or browse the desired products, users can now complete a full-cycle transaction loop directly within the ecosystem of the Smart Mini Programs.

DuerOS-Powered Devices Drive Commercialization of Consumer AI Products

After two years of rapid development, DuerOS has made substantial headway. As of June 2019, the DuerOS voice assistant install base had surpassed 400 million and monthly voice queries on DuerOS exceeded 3.6 billion (not including those from Baidu’s apps). According to three independent research institutions including Canalys, the shipment of DuerOS-powered Xiaodu Smart Speakers in the first quarter of 2019 ranked third globally and first in China, growing at a rapid pace.

Baidu featured its upgraded DuerOS 5.0 and leading capabilities including full-duplex ability, home information feed function, family communication and notification function, DLNA screen projection technology and more. On top of the ability to realize continuous conversation without a wake word, Xiaodu’s full-duplex comes with a key function that enables Xiaodu to recognize when to reply and execute commands and when to just listen and not to respond or react.

Baidu also announced three brand-new smart devices including Xiaodu smart speaker ‘King Kong’ (equipped with infrared control and DLNA screen projection technology), Xiaodu smart speaker “Play” and “Xiaodu at Home 1C 4G” battery version.

Apollo Platform Cements Leading Position in China’s Autonomous Driving Industry

Baidu also announced Apollo 5.0, the latest iteration of its autonomous driving platform, including upgrades to both Apollo Open Platform and Apollo Enterprise that bring more capabilities and solutions to developers and partners. A host of Baidu Apollo milestones were highlighted onstage, including: 1) surpassing 2 million kilometers for L4 road testing, with Baidu accounting for 91% of the total road tests in Beijing, the leading city for autonomous driving in China, in 2018; 2) accumulating 438 patents in autonomous driving in one year - more than any other company in China; 3) being issued over 100 public road test licenses for autonomous driving, including newly-issued T4 license from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, which represents China’s highest-level permit signifying that an autonomous vehicle possesses the ability to drive on complex urban roads, tunnels, school zones and other complicated scenarios; 4) starting mass production on the first batch of L4 autonomous passenger vehicles, in collaboration with Hongqi, which are slated to be deployed as robotaxis in Changsha, Hunan province; and 5) the unveiling of the Apollo Go robotaxi project, which will be debuted in Changsha in the end of 2019.

The 5.0 iteration of the Apollo Open Platform also released new data pipelines, reducing calibration time for each vehicle from one week to 30 minutes, which means more than a hundred vehicles can now be calibrated within one week. Apollo Enterprise has launched two new solutions, Robotaxi and Intelligent Communication and Control.

In the connected car space, Geely will begin to equip its cars with a GKUI19 system, which is powered by DuerOS for Apollo. Baidu’s Apollo intelligent transportation solutions have also been deployed in cities, with the company’s intelligent transportation information control system already helping to reduce traffic delays by 20-30% in Baoding, Hebei province.

Baidu Cloud Sees Unprecedented Growth as Baidu Expands AI2B Offerings

In the wave of intelligent transformation of industries, Baidu Cloud is growing rapidly and has achieved a number of major successes, with quarterly revenues recently surpassing RMB 1 Billion in a record time amongst all cloud providers in China. According to IDC and other international authoritative market analysts, Baidu Cloud has secured a position in the top tier of China's public cloud market. To date, Baidu Cloud has served thousands of customers across several sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, services and others. "Cloud + AI" is becoming one of the most important tools for Baidu to empower intelligent transformation.

Baidu’s Commitment to “Do Better” with AI

Baidu is continually breaking barriers in AI technological innovation, realizing its industrial applications and using technology to solve wide-ranging social problems. Baidu AI Xunren has now helped more than 6,700 families reunite. Baidu is also helping the blind to communicate with the world through AI voice technology.

“We have been making great efforts to promote the advancement of AI technology and open it up to millions of developers. We hope to serve people and contribute to society with technology,” said Robin Li.

“Do Better – create a better world through technology!” Robin Li’s closing remark, which echoed the overall sentiment of his keynote speech, emphasizes Baidu’s commitment to making the world a better place with technology along with developers and industry partners from around the world.

Baidu and Intel deepen AI collaboration

More big news from Baidu Create 2019 came from Naveen Rao, General Manager, Artificial Intelligence Products Group at Intel, who announced that the two companies would be collaborating based on the Intel® Nervana™ Neural Network Processor (NNP-T for Training) and a deep-learning training solution developed with PaddlePaddle. The two companies will work together on optimizing the second generation of Intel Xeon Scalable Processor based on the PaddlePaddle deep-learning model, and focusing on the improvement of computing power and visual computing solutions (Movidius VPU). Alongside enhancing the performance of big data storage (Intel® Optane DC Persistent Memory), Intel will also work with Baidu’s secure computing team (MesaTEE) in customer data privacy and security protection using Intel SGX (SGX-Software Guard eXtensions) technology.

Baidu AI ecosystem partner exhibitions onsite

A number of Baidu’s key AI partners also featured exhibits outside of the main conference, including:

Inspur, a globally leading cloud computing solution and cloud service provider, which has formed a comprehensive solution service capability covering IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. With high-end servers, mass storage, cloud operating system and information security technology, Inspur has built a leading cloud computing infrastructure platform for customers and provided IT products and services to more than 100 countries and regions around the world.

The AI Science and Technology Park of Wuhan Development Zone aims to create an industrial cluster of AI research, development and application. It introduced the Baidu ABC Institute (Based at the AI Science and Technology Park of Wuhan Development Zone) and an AI training room to jointly build an industrial talent cultivation system. It also featured Baidu Apollo, Neolix autonomous vehicles and other products to empower intelligent park operations, making it a vivid showcase of Baidu’s intelligent industry ecosystem.

About Baidu

Baidu, Inc. is the leading Chinese language Internet search provider. Baidu aims to make the complicated world simpler for users and enterprises through technology. Baidu’s ADSs trade on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “BIDU.” Currently, ten ADSs represent one Class A ordinary share.

Media Contact

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at