China’s First Fully Self-Driving Electric Bus To Operate In Japan

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4 (Bernama) -- China’s first fully self-driving electric bus -- Apolong – will be exported to Japan in early 2019. Based on the strategic partnership of Baidu Inc, SB Drive and King Long, 10 Apolong mini buses will be exported and begin to enter the volume production phase.This agreement marks the first time autonomous vehicles will be exported from China. SB Drive is a subsidiary of Softbank dedicated to self-driving technology research and King Long is a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer in China, a statement said. “The open collaborations between engineers and researchers from both countries will undoubtedly accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of Baidu Japan Inc, Charles Zhang, who led the project. Chief Executive Officer of SB Drive Corp, Yuki Saji said: "In Japan, public transportation is facing a number of challenges, including traffic network reduction, driver shortage and driver aging. He added the launching of Apolong is an important step to maintain public transportation in Japan. Baidu’s Global Business Unit works with local partners to deploy Baidu’s AI technologies and products overseas, especially key projects like the Apollo open autonomous driving technology and the DuerOS conversational AI platform. More details on http://www.baidu.com/ --BERNAMA