China
13:29, 22-Sep-2017
Baidu sets up driverless car race with driving fund
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Chinese tech giant Baidu has launched a 10 billion yuan (1.5 billion USdollars) fund to invest in driverless car race, according to BBC News.
South China Morning Post reports that Baidu intends to steal a march on its rivals in the development of artificial intelligence-powered vehicles.
The launch of Baidu's "Apollo Fund" coincides with the release of Apollo 1.5, the latest version of its open-source autonomous vehicle software. Baidu hopes to have its cars prepared for Chinese roads by 2020.
Thefund, created jointly by Baidu and Yangtze River Industry Fund, will invest that amount of cash over the next three years into more than 100 autonomous driving projects, said the newspaper report.
The driverless car race is essential for Baidu, because it tries to transit itself into an AI-first company. The new fund will be used to promote the growth of what Wu Xuebin, vice-president of Baidu, recently calling the “Apollo community”.