Changan Partners with Baidu to Establish AI Data Center, Expediting Autonomous Driving Research and Development

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Chinese automotive giant Changan Automobile has joined forces with Baidu to establish an AI data center aimed at advancing its autonomous driving software training. This collaboration sets Changan as one of the pioneering traditional automakers in the region to undertake such a venture.

Changan Partners with Baidu to Establish AI Data Center, Expediting Autonomous Driving Research and Development - Car News - 1

(Image: Changan CS75 Plus iDD)

Harnessing a remarkable computing power of 1,420 PFLOPS, the data center empowers the acceleration of autonomous driving model training, achieving speeds up to 125 times faster. Baidu’s official statement today confirms these capabilities.

For context, Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) partnered with Alibaba Cloud in August 2022 to build Fuyao, a smart driving computing platform equipped with up to 600 PFLOPS of total computing power. With Fuyao’s assistance, Xpeng significantly slashed its self-driving core model training period from seven days to under an hour, as stated by the company.

Changan Partners with Baidu to Establish AI Data Center, Expediting Autonomous Driving Research and Development - Car News - 2

(Image: Changan And Baidu)

In January, Haomo.AI Technology Co Ltd, backed by Great Wall Motor, unveiled the MANA OASIS self-driving computing center. This center, developed in collaboration with Volcano Engine, ByteDance’s cloud services platform, boasts a combined computing power of 670 PFLOPS.

The Changan-Baidu data center venture anticipates that GPU resource utilization will surge by over 40 percent upon full completion. This augmentation is poised to substantially expedite autonomous driving research and development, as highlighted by Baidu.

The data center’s accomplishments are already notable, having successfully conducted 15,000 AI algorithm model training sessions, as reported by Baidu.

Positioned as Changan’s new AI infrastructure, the data center will offer heightened technical and data support for the development of new vehicle models, as specified in Baidu’s press release.

In the realm of electrification, Changan emerges as a pioneering traditional automaker. The company has already introduced new EV brands, including Deepal and Avatr, and previewed its inaugural model under the Qiyuan brand in late June.

By the year 2025, Changan will have channeled a cumulative investment exceeding RMB 80 billion ($11 billion) into vehicle intelligence, innovation, and digital transformation, according to Baidu’s press release.

(Note: Exchange rate at the time of writing: $1 = RMB 7.2847)