(Yicai Global) July 4 -- Chinese internet giant Baidu's co-founder Robin Li has revealed new technologies such as an unmanned bus, upgraded digital assistant, and smart chip at the firm's second artificial intelligence conference. 

Li introduced Apolong bus, developed with King Long United Automotive Industry, at its Baidu Create 2018 event today. The vehicle can operate without driver's participation after entering the desired destination, and this is why it has no steering wheel nor driver's seat. The bus ranks at level four in the parameter of autonomous driving from level 0 to 5. 

"We can think of autonomous driving as a four-wheeled robot," Li said, adding that it can help in daily activities such as logistics and cleaning, but in the future, also in security work, disaster relief, and agriculture.

Baidu also released other AI-related products such as a digital assistant DuerOs 3.0, and smart chip called Kunlun, which it suggested to be China's first cloud-to-edge AI chip. The component aims to support applications using voice recognition, search ranking, natural language processing, and autonomous driving.

Apolong will start commercial operations in China's Beijing, Xiong'an, Shenzhen, Pingtan, and Wuhan. The Beijing-based firm will also partner with Japan's Softbank-backed SB Drive to bring the bus to use at nuclear power plants and elderly care centers in the island country latest next year.

Editor: Emmi Laine