Baidu Inc., the leading online search company in China announced that they will develop self-driving buses within three years.
The online search firm said that self-driving buses will be produced within three years. Moreover, hey will mass produce the buses within five years, Reuters reported.
BMW AG will also be part of partnership to develop and produce autonomous passenger vehicles. They will also put into mass production within five years, the report said.
Self-driving cars will be the next breakthrough for vehicle industry as Alibaba is to release its first car in SAIC Motors of China. Meanwhile, Google and Apple will also develop self-driving vehicles, the report added.
Wang Jing, senior vice president of Baidu, named the general manager to lead the now self-driving unit.
Baidu did not give further details about investment and partnership about the new project, the report added.
As Baidu joins race in developing autonomous vehicles with other leading auto manufacturers such as Google and Samsung Electronics Co. for technological components and Toyota Motor Corp. and Tesla Motor Inc. on the vehicles, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Jing said that the traffic in China is complicated with the behavior of pedestrians and cyclists who are different from U.S. Moreover, Jing said that this self-driving unit will be beneficial for China as it would be a great opportunity on the country's "terrible" traffic. Opportunity to cooperate with government is most likely to develop the situation in China's traffic, the report added.
Watch the video by The Wall Street Journal on YouTube about Baidu chasing for self-driving car.