Baidu releases technology self-propelled car

peking - The Chinese tech giant Baidu makes its platform for self-propelled cars freely available to automobile manufacturers. The company, often described as Chinese Google, announced project Apollo Wednesday. The Baidu platform includes automotive, hardware, software and cloud data services.

According to the plan, the technology for vehicles in a closed environment will be available in July. By the end of the year, this will be extended to simple urban situations. Ultimately, all Baidu knowledge must be available in 2020 so that cars based on the platform can drive fully autonomously on highways and cities.

Baidu does not want to open the platform to other companies, but also to add partners to continue developing the technology. In addition, the company is thinking of makers of vehicles, sensors and other components. Baidu is already working with Chinese automakers BAIC, BYD and Chery. A partnership with BMW ended last year.