Volvo and Baidu have announced that they have teamed up to develop electric and fully autonomous cars for China. The two companies plan to mass produce the electric and autonomous cars in China, which will use Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving platform.
The new partnership hopes to capitalize on new research that claims that China will likely become the single largest market for autonomous cars in the world in coming decades. Market research firm IHS Markit predicted earlier this year that around 14.5 million autonomous cars will be sold in China by 2040.
“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 already teamed up with about 90 different partners for its open-source Apollo project, which includes BMW, Bosch, Ford, Hyundai and Nvidia.
Source: Volvo
