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[베이징=이데일리 신정은 특파원] Baidu, one of China’s largest IT companies, has announced its entry into the electric vehicle business. China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market, is expected to fierce competition between existing automakers and startups.
According to China’s economic media, China, on the 11th, Baidu decided to establish’Baidu Motors’ in cooperation with China’s Geely Motors. Baidu emphasized that it will become a’innovator in the smart car era’ by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving technology accumulated over the past 8 years.
This is the first time that a Chinese IT conglomerate has launched its own company name and jumped into electric vehicle manufacturing. Since 2017, Baidu has been conducting the’Apollo’ project, China’s largest autonomous vehicle research project. Including Ford and BMW, more than 100 companies are working together, including ICT companies including Microsoft.
Apollo is operating self-driving buses in parks in Beijing, along with Chinese bus manufacturers Jinlongkeji and US Intel. Apollo has been using technology alliances with several automakers so far, but decided to establish a company and produce cars.
Geely Motors also announced that it will create a smart car company with Baidu. They described it as a strategic partnership. Baidu plans to create a next-generation smart car based on’Haohan SEA’, an electric vehicle structure recently developed by Geely. However, the share ratio was not disclosed.
Geely Motors has maintained the No. 1 sales volume among Chinese brand passenger cars for the fourth consecutive year since 2017. Last year, the sales volume was 1.32 million units, which was similar to the previous year, and this year it is aiming to sell 1.35 million units.
Earlier, Alibaba established Ziji Motors, a smart electric vehicle manufacturer, with the Shanghai Motor Company and the government of Pudong New District in Shanghai. Alibaba has continued to invest financially as the second-largest shareholder of Xpeng, one of China’s top three electric vehicle startups.
China’s electric vehicle market is growing further thanks to government policy. The competition is also getting fierce. China’s leading electric car maker, BYD, and startup Nio (NIO, Weilai) are already vying for first and second place in market caps among automakers in China. Together with Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, the three electric car start-ups called’Chinese Tesla’, are gradually expanding the scale of mass production.
Traditional automobile manufacturers such as Shanghai Motor and Guangzhou Motor Company are also introducing competitive electric cars one after another. Global automakers, including Mercedes-Benz, are also knocking on the Chinese electric vehicle market. Tesla is trying to expand sales by lowering the price of models produced in China by building a factory in Shanghai.