German automobile maker BMW said it's planning to work with Chinese web services company Baidu, Inc. to test highly automated self-driving cars in China.

BMW said it has already begun testing its own developed prototype vehicles that drove thousands of kilometers in Germany and other places in Europe.

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The company said the new trial project will include the cities of Beijing and Shanghai.

"China's fast-expanding urban centres present the engineers with challenges such as multi-level highways." BMW said.

"BMW is embarking on a further research project which will pave the way for highly automated driving in China as well."

China's two major cities apparently offer the German company additional streets and different environments to tests its self-driving vehicles, especially multi-level highways that aren't common in Germany.

BMW aims to partner with Baidu in an effort to enable the company's vehicles to download complete high resolution maps of a country while they are still moving on track. The maps will help the vehicles navigate safely to their destinations.

The prototype vehicles require more memory to store the maps needed. Baidu, China's leading search engine operator, can provide the assistance with its experience in mapping and cloud storage services.

Other car making companies are also joining in the action of testing automated driving cars by partnering with other telecommunications and internet companies.

American tech giant Google recently presented its own driverless car prototype last May.

BMW is also currently working with British telecom company Vodafone on a global SIM card which will be embedded directly into their new 2015 models.

The global SIM provides drivers with in-car digital services including an emergency call service when an accident occurs.

TagsBMW, Germany, Europe, Self-driving cars