Baidu chairman suggests making policies for AI open platform and autonomous driving

Robin Li, Chairman and CEO of Chinese search giant Baidu and a member of CPPCC, revealed his proposals for the 13th CPPCC that the government should make and promote relevant policies to support the development of artificial intelligence (AI) open platform and autonomous driving industry in China.

AI is always a highlighted issue that Robin Li proposed at each CPPCC National Committee he has attended. Li said that Baidu has already owned the Apollo 2.0, the biggest autonomous driving platform worldwide, the deep learning platform PaddlePaddle as well as the DuerOS, a conversation-based AI platform. Other companies are also working on this area and some of them have already made breakthroughs. He suggested that the government should put more efforts on formulating and promoting relevant policies to encourage enterprises to open their AI platforms. Besides, the government can build some national level of AI open platforms as well with greater market competitiveness and influence.

In addition, the government should promote various industries from different areas to utilize AI open platforms and can provide subsidiaries for AI product buyers. Meanwhile, local authorities need strengthen the support to Chinese researchers to develop deep learning open source platforms.

The other major issue is to create a sound policy environment for autonomous driving industry.

Robin Li advocates that the government can set up a RMB 100 billion national level investing capital for autonomous driving industry and inspire those capable enterprises to build “Chinese auto brain” platform.

Besides, central and local governments should accelerate the research and unveiling of relevant policies to lay a lawful foundation for autonomous driving progress in China. For instance, some qualified enterprises are allowed to take the lead in launching autonomous driving operational services. In some cities with limits on vehicle licenses, such as Beijing and Shanghai, the government can permit those companies without quota to apply licenses for autonomous vehicles. Additionally, the government need take measures to prevent auto network from being attacked by hackers which will cause key data to be stolen. Meanwhile, to expedite the layout of autonomous vehicle operation, China's authorities should promote the planning and construction of intelligent road infrastructures and speed up the renovation of a new autonomous-vehicle-oriented city traffic environment.