Interview with Technology Peng Progress: Intelligent driving entered the second half, delivering AI drivers for the whole industry.

Author Song Wanxin

May17,2021Sohu technology 5G &；; The artificial intelligence summit was held in Beijing. As a guest, Jin Peng, co-founder and chief system architect of Shi Yu Science and Technology, delivered a keynote speech entitled "AI Reshapes Future Travel and Logistics-"AI Drivers Empower Full Scene Autopilot ".

After the speech, he accepted an exclusive interview with Sohu Technology, and gave a detailed answer to the characteristics of the automatic driving technology, the landing case of the airport scene and the practice of subdividing the scene.

Peng Jin pointed out that Shi Yu Science and Technology advocates a "truly unmanned, all-weather, all-scene" unmanned platform in the field of autonomous driving, "delivering AI drivers for the whole industry and empowering a new ecology of travel and logistics".

In 20 19, Shi Yu Science and Technology and Hongkong International Airport officially started the operation of "unmanned logistics", and deployed several unmanned logistics vehicles to realize the trial operation of end-to-end cargo transportation in the airport. Autopilot routes cover various complex environments such as the ground, indoors and tunnels.

At the beginning of this year, the landing process was further promoted. Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) announced on June 5438+ 10 that all luggage trailers operating in Haitian Passenger Terminal Building of the airport will be changed into unmanned logistics vehicles in the first quarter of this year, completely replacing the traditional manual trailers and transporting passengers' luggage in Haitian Passenger Terminal Building.

Shi Yu Science and Technology has cooperated with many international airports at home and abroad, becoming the first unmanned company in China and even in the world to build an unmanned smart airport.

"At the airport, the challenge of driverless driving is very great. The first is safety, because there is contact with the plane, so the safety requirements are very high. Secondly, the airport requires not only safety, but also high efficiency, because this flight is managed strictly according to time, especially in Hong Kong Airport, where the whole flight is very dense and the place is very small. The third is the environment. The Hong Kong Airport was reclaimed from the sea. It depends on the marine environment. Typhoon, rainstorm, high temperature and smog have great pressure on the technology itself, the quality and operation of unmanned vehicle products. "

Peng Jin told Sohu Technology that after more than 500 days of operation, the above three difficulties have been basically overcome.

In view of the current car-building boom, Peng Jin believes that it is precisely because everyone saw that smart driving entered the second half that the autonomous driving company solved the technology, products and the first batch of large-scale commercialization, which made the whole industry see the outbreak of smart driving. Therefore, so many companies have begun to join the manufacture of intelligent driving cars, which in itself is an affirmation of the past exploration of autonomous driving.

The following is an exclusive interview:

Sohu Science and Technology: First of all, please briefly introduce your main work and technical characteristics in Shi Yu Science and Technology to Sohu's netizens.

Peng Progress: I am mainly responsible for the technical research and development of unmanned platforms and some construction work. At present, I focus on making unmanned algorithms and systems better, smarter and safer. We call it a truly unmanned, all-weather, all-scene unmanned platform, which transports "AI drivers" for the whole industry and empowers the new ecology of travel and logistics.

Sohu Technology: The cooperation between Shi Yu Technology and HKIA is a well-known case in the industry. At the beginning of this year, it was reported that the unmanned logistics vehicles jointly developed by the two sides have also started to operate. It can be seen that the application of driverless driving in the airport is gradually increasing. What are the difficulties in landing the airport scene? In terms of technology, how did Shi Yu achieve its first breakthrough in the industry?

Peng's progress: It will be about 20 19 to 12 to start the normal unmanned operation of the airport. A few at first, and now dozens. Especially during the epidemic last year, the airport saw the advantages of unmanned vehicles and widely promoted their deployment and application.

At the airport, the challenge of driverless driving is very great. The first is safety. Because of the contact with the plane, the safety requirements are very high. Just now, I also introduced that in addition to the safety and redundancy of our own unmanned driving system, we have also built a "security officer-free inspection" system, and even provided another set of intelligent systems to monitor various scenes and environments in the airport, avoid planes and vehicles, and keep a certain distance, so as to fully guarantee the safety of unmanned driving vehicles in the airport and apron area.

Secondly, in addition to safety requirements, the airport actually requires very high efficiency, because this flight is managed strictly according to time. In particular, the entire flight of Hong Kong Airport is very dense, the place is very small, and the efficiency requirements are very high. How many minutes does the unmanned vehicle have to complete the service, and it cannot exceed this. More than one flight is equivalent to recording once. We also want to ensure the efficiency of driverless vehicles. We can't park it there when something goes wrong. You must make sure that it can run all the time. If something goes wrong, there must be other ways to continue providing services.

The third is the environment. Hong Kong Airport is reclaimed from the sea, which depends on the marine environment. Typhoon, rainstorm, high temperature and smog have great pressure on the technology itself, the quality and operation of unmanned vehicle products. Basically, after more than 500 days of operation, we have overcome these three difficulties.

Sohu Technology: What segmentation scenarios is Shi Yu Technology still studying? How is it laid out? Which applications are the focus of investment?

Peng Progress: At present, we are working hard in many industries. We are AI drivers in the whole scene, and we provide AI driving service. In addition to the airport, we are providing the normal operation of artificial intelligence drivers of more than 65,438+000 driverless cars in the most modern factory in the world. In addition, we are also working hard on public transport, unmanned buses, RoboTaxi, passenger cars and unmanned distribution. Our goal is to apply the full scene AI driver to these so-called specific scenes, including various open scenes.

Sohu Technology: 20 18 You predict that it will take 3-5 years for the cost of driverless driving to drop to large-scale commercialization. Now, has this progress been achieved?

Peng Progress: 20 18, it seems that the judgment is still a little conservative. In fact, everyone is talking about the second half of unmanned driving now. The first half mainly focuses on technical products, and the second half has been proved whether the real commercial landing value can be discovered.

We started to use driverless technology on a large scale last year, and it has many applications in many scenarios. By this year, with the progress of technology, especially in unmanned driving, the cost of a core key equipment-lidar has dropped very quickly. At that time, there were tens of thousands of dollars three years ago, and now there are thousands of dollars of lidar to choose from. There are hundreds of dollars in three years, which greatly promotes the industrialization of driverless driving, lowers the threshold and promotes its arrival.

Sohu Technology: Manufacturers who do autonomous driving technology like Baidu have also cut into making cars. What do you think of the current automobile manufacturing boom? Does Shi Yu have any plans to make cars next?

Peng Progress: It is precisely because everyone saw intelligent driving enter the second half that we solved these difficulties with technology, products and the first batch of large-scale commercialization, and let the whole industry see the outbreak of intelligent driving. This is why so many companies have begun to join the manufacture of smart driving cars. Our persistence itself is an affirmation of our past work.

Secondly, we still stick to our point of view. We don't make cars. We only provide AI drivers and cooperate with other car-making companies in the whole industry. Because in the second half of the year, the industry began to slowly integrate. The view is that whoever is good at doing what he does. Finally, only in this way can the future of intelligent driving really come faster.