Volvo And Baidu To Co-Develop Fully Autonomous Cars For China

Volvo has become the first foreign automaker to collaborate closely with Chinese Internet giant Baidu, as the two companies will work towards developing fully autonomous electric cars for the Chinese market.

While Volvo will provide access to its expertise and advanced car industry technologies, Baidu will contribute with its Apollo autonomous driving platform. Based on industry forecasts, China is likely to become the world’s biggest market for autonomous cars in the coming decades.

“With Baidu, we take a big step forward in commercializing our autonomous compatible cars, built on Volvo’s industry-leading safety technology,” stated the Swedish automaker’s president and CEO, Håkan Samuelsson. “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.”

Volvo is also looking to become a global and diversified mobility service provider, and regards autonomous tech as a key growth area. In fact, by the middle of the next decade, it expects to generate one third of all annual sales exclusively from autonomous vehicles.

As for China, according to market research firm IHS Markit, roughly 14.5 million autonomous vehicles will be sold there by the year 2040, while the total global volume will sit at around 33 million units.

“Since its founding a century ago, Volvo has kept safety as its core mission, pushing safety development forward with significant innovations. We are very glad that Volvo Cars has established a strategic partnership with Baidu in the development of a fully autonomous car compatible with our autonomous driving platform Apollo. We look forward to working closely with Volvo to provide the world with the safest auto products for the benefit of humankind,” said Baidu president, Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang.