Baidu Maps Unveils New Safety Features for Intelligent Assisted Driving at Conference

On July 22, at the 8th Intelligent Assisted Driving Conference in 2025, Yu Wei, General Manager of Baidu Maps' Automotive Map Division, delivered a keynote speech discussing the value and application of Baidu Maps in the realm of intelligent assisted driving safety and equity. He stated, 'Intelligent assisted driving is not about showcasing technology; safety is the bottom line, and the redundancy to ensure the safety of intelligent assisted driving cannot be compromised!' In recent years, the rapid development of intelligent assisted driving technology has posed significant challenges to the value of traditional high-precision maps due to costs and updates, leading to a phenomenon where maps are often avoided. However, this year, safety has regained its focus in the development of intelligent vehicles. As both upper and lower limits have encountered bottlenecks, many intelligent assisted driving teams have recently approached Baidu to reassess the value of maps, marking a 'value return' for maps in intelligent assisted driving. Baidu Maps LD: Born for Intelligent Assisted Driving Baidu Maps believes that the core contribution of maps to intelligent assisted driving is the out-of-sight safety value. Collaboration with various clients has shown that LD data significantly enhances the safety and efficiency of intelligent assisted driving, with the takeover rate being reduced by over 50% after utilizing certain LD elements. In terms of safety, prior semantic information in LD data, such as bus lanes and non-motor vehicle lanes, effectively prevents intelligent vehicles from straying into the wrong lanes, thereby reducing takeovers and improving the Maneuver Performance Index (MPI). For efficiency and experience, LD provides intersection lane topology information, allowing for smoother and more decisive navigation through complex intersections while optimizing lane selection to avoid unnecessary lane changes, making the entire driving process more efficient and comfortable. Baidu Maps LD boasts three core advantages: full coverage, full scenes, and rapid updates. First, full coverage: Baidu LD covers the entire national road network of 13 million kilometers across levels 1 to 9, including 3 million refined intersections. Second, full scenes: Baidu LD also covers over 2 million parking lots and park data, including parking spaces, internal road networks, connections between internal and external roads, and gate information. Third, rapid updates: Leveraging feedback from hundreds of millions of users, Baidu LD has created a healthy and continuous data feedback loop, achieving day-level updates for static data and minute-level updates for dynamic data. In terms of engineering architecture, Baidu Maps has built a 'Cabin Driving Cloud' integrated solution based on LD. The cloud provides high-quality LD data, navigation, and parking elements for pre-training large models and verifying perception models, enhancing the model's upper limits; the driving domain: Baidu's driving map SDK's ADM API interface can output LD data and navigation information in real-time, supporting online inference for intelligent assisted driving and ensuring end-to-end safety; the cabin domain: lane-level navigation can input the optimal lane selection throughout the journey into the intelligent assisted driving system, while SR navigation enhances the immersive and reassuring experience of human-machine co-driving. This solution balances user experience, efficiency, and safety, flexibly adapting to different technical routes like VLA and VLM, promoting the rapid mass production of intelligent assisted driving. Baidu Maps V21: The World’s First 'Intelligent Driving Navigation' Baidu Maps V21 was officially launched in April this year as the world’s first 'Intelligent Driving Navigation' designed for intelligent assisted driving. It has undergone comprehensive upgrades in data and product functions tailored to intelligent assisted driving scenarios, offering five core capabilities centered on 'Intelligent Driving LD Data,' 'Intelligent Driving Lane Navigation,' 'Intelligent Driving AR Navigation,' 'Intelligent Driving SR Navigation,' and 'Intelligent Driving AI Navigation.' With its rich technological foundation and strong product competitiveness, Baidu Maps has become a standard in intelligent vehicles, with over half of the vehicles sold in the first half of 2025 (January to June) equipped with L2+ intelligent assisted driving systems opting for Baidu Maps. Looking ahead, Baidu Maps will continue to leverage its strengths and collaborate with industry partners to promote the healthy, safe, and sustainable development of intelligent assisted driving technology, creating a safe and intelligent travel experience for users.