Volvo Cars is joining forces with the internet giant Baidu to develop and manufacture fully autonomous cars for the Chinese market. The partnership with Baidu is Volvo´s first in China to jointly develop autonomous vehicles. The aim of the strategic collaboration is to achieve mass production of fully autonomous cars over the next few years. The announcement was made in Beijing at a Baidu event.
The collaboration will seek to develop new standards for smart car safety utilising the capabilities of Apollo, Baidu’s autonomous driving platform. The announcement was made in Beijing at a Baidu event.
“With Baidu we take a big step forward in commercialising our autonomous compatible cars, built on Volvo’s industry-leading safety technology,” said Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars. “There is a strong development in autonomous drive in China, where Baidu is a leading player, and the market there offers huge opportunities for us as the supplier of choice for autonomous fleets.”
Baidu has been developing autonomous driving technology since 2013. “We look forward to working closely with Volvo to provide the world with the safest auto products for the benefit of humankind,” said Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang, President of Baidu.
