ZF Signs Strategic Cooperation Agreement with Baidu to Work on Autonomous Driving

ZF Friedrichshafen AG has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Chinese Internet company, Baidu to collaborate in three areas. These include autonomous driving, telematics and mobility services. The two companies intend to develop extensive technical solutions for autonomous driving in China.

Commenting on the agreement, ZF Chief Executive Officer Dr. Stefan Sommer said that with Baidu, ZF is getting a partner having significant expertise in dealing with artificial intelligence, big data and cloud-based service solutions. Expertise in these areas serve as key drivers for the development of technologies that are needed for autonomous driving. ZF has a vehicle control system called ZF ProAI that can be used to merge this drawn from big data, cloud and AI systems with other data from car-to-X communication. Hence, ZF can serve as a one stop supplier of autonomous driving solutions to its customers.

ZF and Baidu will bring their expertise in specific areas to the new technology alliance and will share their knowledge in these technologies to advance telematics solutions and autonomous driving in the |Chinese market. New business models for the Chinese market are expected to emerge based on the established market position of both companies.

Robin Wu, vice president of Baidu, added though pursuit of autonomous driving has become very popular, it is facing challenges like reformation of industrial structure and technology innovation. Hence, cooperation between companies can help accelerate the actual utilization of autonomous driving and business commercialization.

From 2013, Baidu has been continually investing in research and development for autonomous vehicle systems. In April 2017, the company launched “Project Apollo”, an open, completed and secured platform that can expedite the efforts of automotive companies and their partners to develop their own exclusive automated driving technologies based on vehicle and hardware systems.