Chinese tech giant Baidu and graphics card manufacturer Nvidia have formed a partnership to work together in the research and development of an artificial intelligent platform for autonomous cars.

The partnership was announced by Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang during the Baidu World Conference. Huang noted that the two companies would merge their technologies and technical capabilities to create a new self-driving architecture for cars.

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Huang added that the new platform would be made completely from scratch, instead of relying on or upgrading existing platforms. The resulting technology would be used by Baidu as the company plans to roll out self-driving taxis in China, according to Engadget.

However, the two companies confirmed that while the main purpose of the partnership is to develop a technology for Baidu to use, they are also open for other auto manufacturers and tech companies to license their technology if they have plans to create self-driving cars.

Baidu is one of the very few Chinese companies that has created a research and development division for self-driving cars. In fact, Baidu is planning to deploy its self-driving car on the road by the end of 2018. Additionally, Baidu is also looking to start the mass production of autonomous cars by 2021.

Meanwhile, Nvidia has developed a supercomputer that it claims can power autonomous cars. Called the Drive PX, and its latest iteration the Drive PX 2, the technology is already being tested by Volvo on its self-driving vehicles.

TagsNvidia, Nvidia Baidu, Baidu, autonomous car, Self-Driving Car, Artificial Intelligence