Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) and BAIC Motor, a Chinese government-backed manufacturer of passenger vehicles, have teamed up to build autonomous vehicles in China. The partnership was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 on Friday.
Baidu and BAIC will collaborate on different levels for their driverless vehicle initiative. Their first project will be a BAIC-built vehicle enhanced with telematics solutions from Baidu. The companies plan to show off the product at the Shanghai auto show in April.
The other program Baidu and BAIC have in the pipeline is developing a semi-autonomous vehicle that they plan to bring to road test by the end of 2017.
The collaboration with BAIC is part of Baidu’s Intelligent Vehicle program. Baidu and BAIC have also agreed to collaborate in creating high quality digital maps and smartphone apps to support their autonomous vehicle agenda.
BAIC has a smartphone app called CarLife that has been adopted by automakers such as Shanghai GM, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. CarLife has also been deployed in 150 car models.
Smart vehicle research lab
Baidu and BAIC will also jointly launch a research lab that will be dedicated to developing autonomous vehicle technologies and solutions. It is estimated that 21 million fully autonomous vehicles will be on the roads worldwide by 2035.
“Our strategic partnership with Baidu will help upgrade the intelligent technology capabilities of both companies, while establishing a model for development in the smart vehicle industry,” said BAIC president Feng Li.
Besides BAIC, Baidu’s other autonomous vehicle partner is NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), with which Baidu is developing advanced operating systems capable of handling complex navigation systems in driverless vehicles. Baidu also has a self-driving research team in Silicon Valley and it is working to set up another autonomous vehicle research center in Seattle.
Baidu stock retreated 0.61% to close at $176.38 on Friday, but the stock is about 7% since the last 12 months.
