Internet giant Baidu wants to start mass production of self-driving cars in 2019 2019

China’s Baidu plans to start mass production of self-driving cars as early as 2019. The internet giant is working together with the Chinese manufacturer BAIC for this. Incidentally, the self-driving cars will initially still require intervention by the driver.

Baidu and BAIC announced the news together at a meeting in Beijing. The intention is that the internet giant Baidu will supply technology for the self-driving car, which BAIC can then process in the production process. The first self-driving cars should roll off the assembly line in 2019. This concerns cars with so-called level 3 autonomous functions, which means that the driver can safely do something else, such as calling or watching videos, but that the car is not yet able to drive independently in all circumstances.

The two Chinese partners also plan to introduce cars with more extensive independence, so-called level 4. That should happen from 2021. It is likely that the cars will initially be intended for the Chinese market; It is unclear whether there are already plans to release the cars outside of China.

Baidu previously started a partnership with BMW for the production of self-driving cars. However, that was not a success, and the collaboration was terminated last year. Earlier this year, Baidu announced that it will use Nvidia technology to make self-driving cars.