Baidu's face recognition technology, listed in 10 breakthrough technology in MIT Technology Review 2017, trained with a huge amount of data to make it smart. We connected it to Baidu's autonomous-driving platform, creating world's first tech+art experiment in the autonomous-driving area.

Firstly, we scanned the faces of all test drive participants and collected the data. Then these data was fed into a system that created a GPS route via our Face-To-GPS conversion application. Lastly, we let invite the passenger to the test drive and discover for himself/herself a unique journey: Baidu Face Drive.

We set up an open day to the public on January 5th, in Sunnyvale, California. The event was open for participation to the general public. The Apollo team provided 2 self-driving cars. In total 8 people experience Baidu Face Drive.

We targeted car owners and tech geeks. We decided to impress them by combining our autonomous-driving technology and the art, creating a test driving experience that is unique for each passenger.

Though this project was held in Sunnyvale, USA, the case study was released to the industry media and the mass media in China, where Baidu's headquarters are located.

Face Drive created media buzz worthy of USD2 million, and 45% of the interviewees were interested in the test drive, 30% said they will choose vehicles equipped with Baidu's Apollo as the priority.

To make this work happened, we need 3 kinds of data. Firstly, the data of navigation from Google Map. Secondly, the data of high definition map for the autonomous-driving platform from Baidu. Lastly, the data of Baidu's face recognition technology, which used deep learning technology trained with a huge amount of data.

After being fed with 1 billion face photos, Baidu's face recognition got well trained and ranking top in the world.

And after collected big data for the high-definition map in Sunnyvale, California, Baidu's self-driving car is able to drive freely in that area.

By combining these two kinds of data and Google map, we brought participants to an unforgettable journey.

Baidu has been developing its autonomous-driving platform. It hopes to mass produce partially autonomous cars running the Apollo system by 2019. Till date, Apollo has secured partnerships with over 90 companies, including Microsoft and German carmaker, Daimler.

Baidu wanted to impress the participants with their human technology. However, technology is cold. So to make this technology memorable, a human touch was created for Apollo.