Baidu Plans Self-Driving Car
Chinese internet search engine giant Baidu is planning on building a self-driving car. The first test has been successful. A modified BMW -3 car made a 30 km test drive around the Chinese capital Beijing .
The car was able to make turns, detect and overtake cars that were too slow as well as change lanes. The new self-driving car can travel at speeds of up to 100 km an hour.
Baidu has implemented a special Baidu software,called AutoBrain, into the new car. It uses its own maps, locates positions and turns and makes decisions.
The search engine company plans to use the cars as shuttles in public transport to bring people to and from certain destinations. It will not take part in individual city traffic but only drive on specific routes.
With this new development Baidu is joining Google , Apple and Tesla on the self-driving car market. While the new vehicle is Baidu's first car, Google has produced over 50 prototypes. The Californian internet company has already driven a million test miles on public roads.
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Words
- capital = the most important city in a country ; where the government is
- destination = place where you want to go
- detect = notice or discover something
- development = here: a new product that is being made
- implement = here: to install software into a car
- individual = only for one person
- lane = a part of the road that is divided from another part by a painted line
- locate = find out where something is
- make a turn = to change your direction on a road
- modify = change
- overtake = pass
- public transport = buses, trains, subways that everyone can use
- shuttle = here: car that makes regular short trips between two places
- specific = special
- speed = how fast something is
- successful = something that has worked the way you want it to
- vehicle = something that has a motor and can drive on the road