Baidu launches 9.8 billion yuan fund to develop self-driving cars
Chinese search engine Baidu Inc. launched a 9.8 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) fund to develop self-driving vehicles to speed technical development and compete with U.S. rivals.
The Apollo Fund will invest in 100 autonomous driving projects over the next three years, Baidu said in a statement.
The fund’s debut coincides with the release of Apollo 1.5, the second generation of the company’s open-source autonomous vehicle software.
After years of internal development, Baidu decided in April to open its autonomous driving technology to third parties, a move it hopes will accelerate development and help it to compete with Google’s Waymo.
In the latest update to its platform, Baidu says partners can access new obstacle perception technology and high-definition maps, among other features.
It comes amid a wider reshuffling of Baidu’s corporate strategy as it looks for new profit streams outside its core search business, which lost a large chunk of ad revenue in 2016 following strict new government regulations on medical advertising.
Baidu’s Apollo project -- named after the NASA moon landing -- aims to create technology for completely autonomous vehicles, which it says will be ready for city roads in China by 2020.
The company said it has 70 automotive partners, up from 50 in July. Partners include chipmaker Nvidia Corp. and mapping service TomTom NV.
Despite the rapid growth of its partner ecosystem, Baidu has faced challenges negotiating local Chinese regulations, which have previously stopped the company from testing on highways.
In July, Beijing’s local police said they were investigating whether the company had broken city traffic rules by testing a driverless car on public roads as part of a demonstration for a press event.
The fund’s debut coincides with the release of Apollo 1.5, the second generation of the company’s open-source autonomous vehicle software.
After years of internal development, Baidu decided in April to open its autonomous driving technology to third parties, a move it hopes will accelerate development and help it to compete with Google’s Waymo.
In the latest update to its platform, Baidu says partners can access new obstacle perception technology and high-definition maps, among other features.
It comes amid a wider reshuffling of Baidu’s corporate strategy as it looks for new profit streams outside its core search business, which lost a large chunk of ad revenue in 2016 following strict new government regulations on medical advertising.
Baidu’s Apollo project -- named after the NASA moon landing -- aims to create technology for completely autonomous vehicles, which it says will be ready for city roads in China by 2020.
The company said it has 70 automotive partners, up from 50 in July. Partners include chipmaker Nvidia Corp. and mapping service TomTom NV.
Despite the rapid growth of its partner ecosystem, Baidu has faced challenges negotiating local Chinese regulations, which have previously stopped the company from testing on highways.
In July, Beijing’s local police said they were investigating whether the company had broken city traffic rules by testing a driverless car on public roads as part of a demonstration for a press event.
