Baidu Inc., the top Internet search firm of China, has made a panel association to promote self-driving cars, an attempt of pitting against Alphabet Inc.’s system by its Apollo platform. The company gave the information this week in expectations of receiving the vehicles in China on road by 2019.
The alliance comprises partnerships with suppliers, automakers, universities, startups, and local governments and is made around Apollo self-driving platform of Baidu that was designed at its technology center in Silicon Valley of California. Apollo is targeted at Waymo self-driving package of Alphabet. Amongst the main development associates on Apollo are mapping expert TomTom NV, and Nvidia Corp., which concentrates in artificial intelligence and microprocessors.
In mid-morning sale, Nvidia shares were high to $142.94 by 2.6% and Baidu U.S. stakes elevated to $184.15 by 2.3%. In Amsterdam, TomTom was high to 8.85 Euros by 3.2%. Daimler AG and Ford Motor Co. also are associates, Baidu claimed, and so are chipmaker Intel Corp. and supplier Delphi Automotive. Baidu claimed at a briefing in Beijing that it is associating with 5 vehicle manufacturers of China, including BAIC Motor, Chery Automobile, Chongqing Changan Automobile, FAW Group Corp., and Great Wall Motor. All of them mentioned above are state-owned. German suppliers Continental Automotive, Robert Bosch, and ZF Friedrichshafen are also a fraction of the association.
Baidu has claimed that its aim is to get self-driving cars in China on road, possibly by the end of 2019, and ultimately in other markets, comprising the U.S. Baidu is a sponsor in a Silicon Valley electric vehicle business venture, Nio, which is also supported by Lenovo and Tencent Holdings of China. Nio expects to launch its first self-driving cars on roads of the U.S. in 2020.
Two weeks back, top administrators from Chery and Baidu had a meeting in Silicon Valley to sign a deal to work together on the development of internet-connected, intelligent vehicles, as per a source having a deep knowledge of this matter. Chery has set up self-driving software of Baidu in various sample cars in China and they might further intensify their relationship to get into manufacturing.
