(Original title: Giants in the auto-pilot field are moving closer to the smart Internet era?) Reporter Yang Qingqing reports from Beijing Despite the fact that there have been many inbound players, giant players, including Amazon and Apple, are still pouring into the area of ​​unmanned vehicles. Recently, Amazon was exposed more than a year ago to form a team to study driverless technology. The team consists of more than a dozen members and was formed to set up a distribution and logistics network, including unmanned vehicles, for Amazon. At present, Amazon's plan is still in its infancy. In the future, it may use automated vehicles including unmanned trucks, forklifts, and drones to distribute parcels. At the same time, Apple’s unmanned vehicle team was also exposed. According to an Apple document from a public record on Friday, four of the Apple engineers currently testing auto-driving car software for Apple have a NASA background. One of them is a former NASA researcher who was involved in developing a tool for exploration. Jupiter’s autopilot space vehicle, while three others worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The starting point of Amazon's driverlessness is to reduce the cost of logistics distribution. Its plan and purpose are different from other internet giants such as Baidu and Google. The latter two hope to use the unmanned vehicle as a means to obtain user traffic and consumer demand. One of them is that Amazon's business is relatively simple and it is easier to apply the technology to its application,†said Zhao Xiang, senior analyst at the Analytical Center for Automotive and Transportation Travel Research. “Apple used to build cars and is now focusing more. In software, it is actually easier to start with software." Giants stir Two other tech giants have been confirmed to be involved in the unmanned area, but their starting points are different. Although Apple has never publicly acknowledged this before, according to the recent Apple-related documents, Apple has been recruiting doctors and experts in robotics and related fields to promote the research of driverless cars in the past few years. At present, Apple hired NASA veterans and robotics experts to form a secret team responsible for research and development of driverless car projects. Earlier, Apple obtained permission to test unmanned cars on roads in California. Apple has not yet responded to the news, but industry analysts said that Apple currently arranges senior engineers and doctors to operate the unmanned vehicles, reflecting that the project is still in its early stages. Another tech giant, Amazon, also showed a strong interest in driverless vehicles. The difference is that Amazon’s team to study driverless technology is to reduce logistics distribution costs. At present, Amazon has taken many automation technologies in its factories and warehouses to improve distribution efficiency. Driverless trucks can also help them cope with shortages of drivers and even avoid the problem of fatigue of human drivers. In addition, they are powered by drones. Resolving the last kilometer delivery also made Amazon very attractive. From other players, their respective unmanned vehicle business also has new trends. In terms of traditional car companies, it is reported that the Audi A8, which will be available for sale at the end of this year, is expected to have the SAE (Autonomous Automotive Engineers Institute) L3 autopilot capability, the vehicle can drive autonomously and assume the driving safety responsibility, and the driver only needs to Take over the car. General Motors spent $1 billion to acquire Cruise, and plans to team up with Lyft to launch thousands of unmanned vehicles on the road next year; Tencent recently purchased 1.78 billion yuan to buy Tesla shares to lay out its territory in the driverless arena; Intel The company also announced the acquisition of Mobileye, the world's largest supplier of advanced driver assistance systems, for $15.3 billion. Baidu also tossed a "blockbuster" last week, announcing free access to driverless technology for all partners. This means that any auto company can directly use Baidu's open source code to apply this technology. “At present, technically speaking, it is capable of realizing unmanned driving.†Focusing on the current development status of the industry, Zhao Xiang commented, “The most important problems now are in cost, legal and information security, and some ethical issues. In addition, the current transport facilities and traffic conditions also impose practical limitations on the development of the industry." Smart car interconnection Under the background of unrelenting competition in the unmanned vehicle industry, how to use their own advantages to compete better and ultimately promote the development of the industry has become a problem that is placed in front of each in-house person. “The driverless industry is huge. It is difficult for a single company to succeed. It requires more cross-border cooperation and takes advantage of each other,†said Zhao Xiang. “The project has a long time and large scale, and has a high demand for funds. Internet companies such as Baidu and Google have shortcomings in hardware, so they need to form partnerships with other companies to develop with the strengths of other companies." The purpose of the Amazon drone team is different from that of other companies. Now it is taking more combinations, including unmanned trucks, unmanned forklifts and drones, to optimize logistics distribution plans, reduce labor dependence, and improve logistics and distribution. effectiveness. Zhao Xiang believes that Amazon's starting point for research on drones is different from other internet technology giants, who prefer to use drones as a function to capture user traffic and consumer demand. This also means that it is easier for Amazon to put driverless technology to the application level. "Amazon is more interested in commercial vehicles, and the operating environment is more on the highway, which is relatively easy." Apple, which is in secret at all times, is currently worried about deep cooperation with vendors. "It was rumored that Apple used to build cars and it is now more focused on software, including machine learning, automated systems, etc.," Zhao Xiang pointed out. "Apple does unmanned vehicles, but it still requires deep cooperation with vendors and it is easier to start with software. some." However, no matter how the various companies develop, no doubt will promote the industry's intelligence and networking. "The so-called intelligence, with an open operating system, to achieve a number of online systems and software upgrades, users can carry out personalized transformation according to individual needs. The so-called network connection is between the car and the car, the car and the person, the car and the outside world. Interconnection,†said Zhao Xiang’s analysis. “The Internet giant’s layout for unmanned vehicles is currently at different stages of the smart network-linked car, but it will undoubtedly promote the fostering of users and the maturity of technology, and ultimately promote the intelligentization of cars and networks. The degree of jointization." (Editor: Lin Hong)