Apollo Go

Chinese tech giant Baidu has launched an AI model that simulates real-world road environments to train and test its robotaxi systems. The move is part of Baidu's push into autonomous driving, allowing its Apollo Go self-driving vehicles to be developed against a wider range of traffic scenarios than real-world testing alone could provide.

Baidu has unveiled Apollo World, a world-model simulator designed to train its Apollo Go robotaxis on rare and dangerous road scenarios. The system generates virtual journeys that react in real time to steering and braking inputs, producing synchronised camera and lidar data, and can stage hazards such as cyclists running red lights, letting autonomous vehicles practice situations rarely encountered in real-world driving.

The question of why humans have not returned to the Moon since Apollo 11 in 1969 is being widely discussed. The common framing: despite landing there more than five decades ago, no crewed mission has gone back, prompting debate over cost, political will, shifting priorities and technical challenges. Commenters point to the enormous expense of the Apollo programme and the lack of sustained funding, while noting current efforts like NASA's Artemis programme aim to finally return astronauts to the lunar surface.