NXP Semiconductors and Baidu, Inc. announced a cooperation in autonomous driving. Under the terms of the agreement, NXP will join Baidu's open autonomous driving platform, Apollo, and provide semiconductor products and solutions including millimeter wave radar, V2X, security, smart connectivity, and in-vehicle experience technologies.

First announced in April 2017, Apollo is Baidu’s open autonomous driving platform designed to provide a comprehensive, secure, and reliable all-in-one solution supporting all major features and functions of an autonomous vehicle. Apollo has attracted over 70 global partners.

Details of the collaboration include:

• NXP will provide semiconductor products and solutions for autonomous driving, millimeter wave radar, V2X, security, smart connectivity, and in-vehicle experiences.
• Companies will leverage the NXP BlueBox development platform’s low energy consumption, high-performance, and functional safety benefits.
• NXP and Baidu will collaborate on sensor integration and high-performance processors for deep learning networks.
• Baidu’s conversational in-car system, DuerOS for Apollo, will incorporate NXP infotainment solutions for faster time to market and enhanced performance.

“The automobile industry in China continues to advance at an amazing pace,” noted Kurt Sievers, Executive Vice President and General Manager of NXP’s automotive business. “NXP is proud to collaborate with Baidu on the success of Apollo platform. We believe that NXP and Baidu have incalculable synergies to bring to the new automotive revolution.”

Li Zhenyu, General Manager of Baidu’s Intelligent Driving Group, said, “The collaboration with NXP is a significant step toward the application of Baidu’s autonomous driving and connected car technologies. NXP's entry into the Apollo platform will inject momentum into our intelligent and autonomous vehicle ecosystem, creating benefits for the intelligent vehicle industry in China and the world."

In addition to NXP’s partnership with Baidu, NovAtel has joined as an official partner of Baidu’s Project Apollo. NovAtel SPAN GNSS+INS products will provide position, orientation, and time as a critical component of autonomous solutions. Michael Ritter, President and CEO of NovAtel, said, “NovAtel is excited to join Project Apollo and looks forward to working with Baidu and Apollo partners to provide highly accurate positioning solutions.”

NovAtel has a long history of providing industry-leading high-precision GNSS solutions that are high quality and reliable. Ritter continued, “With our high-precision SPAN GNSS+INS positioning solutions, the future of autonomous driving development will reach the positioning requirements needed for a functionally safe, and exceptionally reliable solution.” He added, “Our commitment is to ensure autonomous vehicles have a highly accurate assured positioning solution.”

Partners can use the Apollo open software platform together with the reference hardware platform to accelerate development of their customized autonomous vehicle solutions. More information about the Baidu Apollo ecosystem can be found at: http://apollo.auto/.