Page 41 - AI Standards for Global Impact: From Governance to Action

AI Standards for Global Impact: From Governance to Action

5�9 Future of smart mobility

Talks on the future of smart mobility, focusing on the collaborative efforts between ITU and the
UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) to drive innovation in the sector, considered AI
the key takeaways from ITU-UNECE Future Networked Car Symposium, shedding light on how Part 1: International
emerging technologies like AI are transforming transportation.

The session welcome Francois E. Guichard, UNECE Focal Point for Intelligent Transport Systems
and Automated Driving; Helen Pan, General Manager of Baidu Apollo; and Vincent Vanhoucke,
Distinguished Engineer at Waymo.

A glimpse into the future of smart mobility was analysed with Baidu and Waymo providing
insights on key areas of focus for the future of smart mobility.

Some of the key highlights of the session were:

• Baidu's autonomous driving technology has achieved significant milestones, including
over 170 million km of public road testing, a 10X safety improvement over human
drivers, and 14X fewer insurance claims with over 1,000 driverless vehicles globally, while
prioritizing safety, trust, and collaboration with regulators for cautious expansion.
• Beyond safety, Baidu focuses on sustainability, accessibility, and inclusivity by integrating
its robotaxi service with public transportation, addressing underserved mobility needs
(e.g. rainy days and rush hours) and providing tailored solutions for women, senior citizens,
and vision-impaired users through features like touchless entry, voice commands, and
service dog accommodations.
• Autonomous driving technology uniquely requires real-time problem-solving, high
accuracy, and reliability, leveraging advanced AI algorithms and reasoning models. As
early adopters of AI advancements, the industry continues to integrate new innovations
to commercialize safer and more effective solutions.
• Waymo reported that autonomous driving technology has received overwhelmingly
positive public feedback, becoming a popular and trusted option across demographics,
with benefits like increased safety and convenience for women, parents, and teens, as well
as consistent and independent transportation experiences.
• With over 50 million miles driven, data shows significant safety improvements, including
a 92% reduction in pedestrian injuries and an 82% reduction in injuries to cyclists and
motorcyclists, highlighting the potential to save lives on a large scale as the service
expands.
• Waymo's successful launch of fully autonomous services in five cities, with increasingly faster
expansions, highlights progress in overcoming logistical and community trust challenges
as the focus shifts to scaling operations, building infrastructure, and collaborating with
local authorities for broader U.S. expansion.
• Both Waymo and Baidu consider autonomous cars are valuable to safety and consistency
for pedestrians and cyclists, while also reducing traffic issues like congestion, leading to
smoother and more efficient urban mobility systems.
• Waymo's autonomous vehicles have the potential to transform accessibility for individuals
with disabilities or temporary mobility challenges, offering newfound independence,
privacy, and autonomy to communities traditionally excluded from driving.
• The evolution of autonomous driving highlights its shift from a robotics challenge to an
AI problem, requiring human-like intelligence and intuition to navigate complex, context-
driven "visual conversations" on the road, leveraging advanced AI tools like multimodal
models, world models, and reinforcement learning from human feedback.
• The rapid evolution of AI, including advancements in LLMs, multimodal models, and
world models, promises transformational impacts on autonomous driving, with constant

29