SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Unity Technologies (https://unity3d.com), creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform, announced today a collaboration with Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), China's leading Internet Giant, to develop a real-time simulation product that creates virtual environments allowing developers to test autonomous vehicles in simulated real-world situations. The Unity-based real-time simulation will now be available to developers taking part in Baidu’s Apollo platform: an open, comprehensive and reliable platform geared towards accelerating the development, testing, and deployment of Levels 3, 4, 5 autonomous vehicles.
“Baidu is helping make significant advances in autonomous driving in China and around the world by advancing collaboration amongst many developers and manufacturers, which is why we’re thrilled to be collaborating,” said Tim McDonough, General Manager of Industrial, Unity Technologies. “The ability to accurately conduct autonomous testing in a simulated environment allows for millions of simulations to simultaneously occur, providing Apollo partners with a competitive advantage while helping to keep their business costs down.”
Unity’s real-time 3D platform allows automotive manufacturers (OEMs) to reduce errors and risk while increasing efficiency and speed of testing by offering simulations that replicate real-world scenarios. Unity also offers customizable content available through its Asset Store created by its millions of developers.
In addition to its collaboration with Baidu, Unity works with eight of the 10 largest OEMs in the world by helping improve the way they design, build, service and sell automobiles. The brand has continued to invest in its automotive division by bringing in experts from companies like BMW, General Motors, Toyota, Volvo, and the Volkswagen Group.
“By using a platform like Unity, our developers can focus on testing and research without worrying about non-functional environments or building something from scratch,” said Jaewon Jung, Chief Architect, Baidu. “The Unity-powered game engine simulation for Apollo has the ability to expedite autonomous vehicle validation and training with precise ground truth data in a more effective and safer way.”
As part of its growing autonomy efforts, Unity has recently collaborated to support artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning for autonomous systems, as well as its recently launched SimViz Solution Template: a package that provides OEMs and other brands with autonomous driving simulations solutions. For more information, please visit Unity3d.com.
About Unity Technologies
Unity is the creator of the world’s most widely used real-time 3D development platform that gives developers around the world the tools to create rich, interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences in various industries including games, film and entertainment, automotive, architecture, construction and engineering (AEC). Unity’s 1,000 person development team keeps the company at the bleeding-edge of technology by working alongside partners such as Google, Facebook, Magic Leap, Oculus and Microsoft. The platform’s renowned flexibility gives developers the power to target and optimize their creations for 25+ platforms. Games and experiences made with Unity have reached 3 billion devices worldwide and were installed more than 28 billion times in the last 12 months. Unity offers solutions and services for connecting with audiences including Unity Ads, Unity Analytics, Unity Asset Store, Unity Cloud Build, Unity Collaborate, Unity Connect, and Unity Certification. For more information, visit www.unity3d.com and to see the latest games and experiences created in Unity, go to https://unity.com/madewith.
