While vehicle hardware development is underway, Jidu has begun testing its assisted driving system in city and highway scenarios in Shanghai in October.
(Image credit: Jidu)
Jidu Auto, the car-building arm of Baidu, announced today that the first validation prototype of its first model, the ROBO-01, has recently completed pilot production and rolled off the assembly line at the Geely Automobile Research Institute's pilot production center.
Jidu's SIMUCar (Software Integration Mule Car) based development allows software and hardware development to proceed in parallel, according to the company's CEO Xia Yiping.
The validation prototype is a verification prototype built in accordance with the standardized process for production vehicles to verify the vehicle-related processes and the stability of the software systems it carries, according to Jidu.
The first validation prototype completed software installation and basic functional software debugging within 2 hours after rolling off the line, successfully implementing a number of functions including voice wake-up, Jidu said, adding that this process generally takes two to three weeks according to past experience.
After entering a new phase of development, ROBO-01 will undergo further development based on the validation prototype in preparation for mass production and delivery in 2023, according to Xia.
Here's a video of Jidu's first prototype rolling off the assembly line, as shared on Weibo today.
While vehicle hardware development is underway, Jidu has begun testing its assisted driving system in city and highway scenarios in Shanghai in early October.
Below is a video of Xia's participation in autonomous driving tests released by Jidu today.
Jidu was officially launched on March 2, 2021, and will build models based on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform and Baidu's technology in autonomous driving.
The company held its inaugural ROBODAY event on June 8 and unveiled its robot car concept, the ROBO-01.
Jidu will officially launch a limited version of its first production model on October 27, with the production model boasting a 90 percent resemblance to the ROBO-01 concept and expected to be officially delivered in the second half of 2023.
A regular version of the ROBO-01 is expected to be unveiled during the 2022 Guangzhou auto show in November, when Jidu also plans to unveil the exterior design of its second production car.
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