Baidu Alliance to Vie with Waymo’s Self-Driving Car System
Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. has formed an alliance with 50 partners to tout its Apollo self-driving-car platform as a rival to the autonomous-car system being developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit.
Chinese internet giant Baidu Inc. has formed an alliance with 50 partners to tout its Apollo self-driving-car platform as a rival to the autonomous-car system being developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit.
The alliance includes carmakers BAIC, Chery, Chongqing Changan, Daimler, FAW, Ford and Great Wall. The group also includes universities, municipalities, startups and such suppliers as Bosch, Continental, Delphi, Intel, Nvidia and ZF.
Baidu developed the Apollo system at the company’s tech center in Silicon Valley. The partnership hopes to put the Apollo system into production cars in China, which currently prohibits driverless cars, by 2019.
Chery Automobile is already testing Baidu’s technology in several cars in China, according to Reuters. The news service says the two companies met last month in California to sign an agreement to co-develop internet-connected “intelligent” vehicles.
RELATED CONTENT
-
Kroger Tests Self-Driving Grocery Delivery Service
The Kroger Co. and Silicon Valley startup Nuro launched a pilot program for autonomous grocery delivery this week in Scottsdale, Ariz.
-
Honda Pilots “SmartCharge” Program for EV Owners
Honda Motor Co. is launching a “SmartCharge” pilot program that allows customers to coordinate charging times for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid for non-peak grid times.
-
Flying Car Flight of Fancy Gets Real
People have been dreaming about flying cars since the early days of the auto and aircraft industries.