Baidu’s vice president, as well as head of Baidu’s AI department Wang Haifeng, will serve as director of Baidu Research Institute (in Chinese). With Wang’s increased dominance in Baidu’s AI arm, Baidu’s Artificial Intelligence Group (AIG) will strengthen R&D on the AI application technology for commercial use, including autonomous driving and airport services.
In March this year, AI expert Andrew Ng announced that he’s leaving Baidu; at the same time, Baidu’s vice president Wang Haifeng was promoted to head of Baidu’s AI department, reporting directly to Lu Qi, president of Baidu Group and Chief Operating Officer. This is Wang Haifeng’s second promotion this year.
As the person in charge of AI Technology Platform System (AIG), Wang Haifeng will lead Baidu Research Institute (including Depth Learning Laboratory, Big Data Laboratory, Silicon Valley AI Laboratory, Augmented Reality Laboratory), Voice Technology Department, Natural Language Processing Department, Knowledge Map, large data department, and AI platform department.
Baidu’s AI technology autonomous driving and airport services
Baidu is working on the “Apollo project” to enable cars to drive autonomously on highways and open city roads by 2020, powered by its face recognition technology and fatigue monitoring to guarantee driving safety. To boost Apollo project, Baidu’s voice assistant DuerOS operating system has reportedly partnered with 100 branded consumer appliance partners.
On the other hand, Baidu AI technology’s collaboration with aviation services industry is advancing. On August 24th, 2017, Baidu and Beijing Capital International Airport started testing their facial recognition system.