Chinese tech giants Baidu, Xiaomi set to roll out smart bikes

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Baidu, Xiaomi set to roll out smart bikes

Baidu’s logo. (File photo/Xinhua)

Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun posted a photo of a carbon fiber road bike on his Weibo microblog in July, first triggering speculations about the launch of a smart bike from the Chinese smartphone maker.

Zhong Yufei, a fellow Xiaomi executive, also revealed the bike on his microblog later. Sources said Xiaomi has assembled a team and that the bike will be launched by the end of the year at the earliest.

Baidu, China’s largest internet search provider, was meanwhile more forthcoming about its intention to get on the smart bike bandwagon with an operating system that lets bikers track their workouts and routes.

Called the DuBike, the prototype bike lets riders monitor their health stats, such as calories burnt and heart rate, in addition to offering traffic and mapping data to find the best routes.

It will do this by using sensors, artificial intelligence software and internet data from Baidu to analyze and plan routes based on location, city road conditions, riding habits and personal preferences.

But an important question is whether the average person can afford to buy such an advanced bike and what function if any it will have for enthusiasts and professionals?

Xiaomi lags far behind Baidu in terms of big data and artificial intelligence, and its best advantage lies in its brands and loyal user base.

This means that bikes by both Baidu and Xiaomi will be starkly different, but whether the DuBike with its advanced equipment or the Xiaomi bike, which may be more accessible to the average user, becomes more popular will be seen early next year.

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