Baidu is planning to take the lead on artificial intelligence for autonomous driving in China by bringing its first autonomous car to the market by 2018, while its mass production is expected to commence by 2020.

The Chinese search engine giant's CFO, Jennifer Li, while reiterating the quick timeline the company has announced this summer, cited their track record on strong investments in AI as a key towards meeting their deadline.

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It can be noted that the company has started focusing on few industries to commercialize, as Forture reported that  AI will change the financial and transportation industries in China. 

“We think the automobile is the next major computing platform," Li said in conference in Hong Kong. "We want to have our autonomous vehicle commercialized in three years, and mass production in five years. That’s our goal.” 

Wang Jing, a senior vice-president at the Chinese online search giant and the general manager of its autonomous driving unit, said Baidu is creating autonomous vehicles with a goal of improving the passenger safety and diminish traffic congestion as well as pollution in China, according to South China Morning Post. 

However, industry experts pointed out that Baidu’s timeline is unrealistic, without discounting the fact that with huge investment and unwavering commitment, the desired goal can still be attained.

The Beijing-based tech firm hinted about their optimism about this new endeavor, especially that its latest product has undergone extensive research and development as well as several successful test drives on the complex roads in China’s capital.

Earlier this month, Baidu unveiled its US$200 million venture capital unit to invest in AI projects. The new enterprise is called Baidu Venture and headed by company founder and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong. It will focus its resources on augmented and virtual reality initiatives.

Aside from Baidu, other leading tech companies such as Tesla, Google’s Alphabet, Apple, General Motors and Microsoft, reportedly dominates the autonomous car market as well.

TagsBaidu, Autonomous Cars, Self-Driving Car, autonomous driving, Artificial Intelligence, apple, Tesla, Baidu Autonomous Driving Market