Baidu has launched a new augmented reality (AR) platform for smartphones.

The Chinese Internet giant said that the latest AR platform will let people use the technology from within many of it’s apps. The AR platform called DuSee uses sophisticated computer vision and deep learning to analyze 3D environment and develop virtual objects which interact with the user and the real world as well, according to The Verge. 

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Baidu Research’s Institute of Deep Learning collaborated with Baidu’s search team to launch the product. Baidu’s chief scientist Andrew Ng is one of the luminaries in the field of deep learning. Deep learning is a type of artificial intelligence that involves training artificial neural networks with lots of data such as photos, and then directing the neural networks to make inferences about new data.

“DuSee will enable our customers to deliver a delightful real-time AR experience to the millions of people who use Baidu‘s mobile apps every day, thus quickly bringing AR to a huge population,” Zeng Hua, Baidu’s Key Account Department Senior Director, said in a statement.

DuSee is designed to work off on existing smartphone cameras so location mapping requires a physical real world marker unlike Google’s Tango platform, which relies on sophisticated camera technology.

Baidu will not release a headset, but its focus will be directed to the software only, Venture Beat reported. This is in line with Snapchat’s approach to augmented reality, with its virtual rainbow vomit and Marley-esque head gear. The technology offers Chinese mobile users an opportunity to interact with traditional media in new ways while approaching augmented reality in a manner much less cumbersome than using an AR head-mounted display.

TagsBaidu, AR platform, Augmented Reality, DuSee, DuSee AR Platform, mobile search app, snapchat