Reports suggest that Baidu will start testing autonomous cars in the U.S. as a part of its efforts to introduce a commercially viable model in the market by 2018. The company is also advocating better coordination with the U.S. Government for regulatory approvals necessary to bring self-driving cars on the road. This move comes on the back of General Motors’ recent acquisition of Cruise Automation, a software company dedicated to self-driving car technology, so as to accelerate its development of autonomous cars. With Tesla’s first fully autonomous vehicle expected to hit the road by 2018, other automakers such as Ford and Toyota and Baidu’s global competitor Google are likely to launch their self-driving cars by 2020. Baidu is investing in patents and stepping up field tests to get ahead of the competition in the race for autonomous cars, where it will face intense competition from several players. With China expected to be the largest market for self-driving vehicles globally, we believe Baidu is stepping up its efforts to gain the first movers advantage in the region.
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