Microsoft shook hands with Baidu to speed up the development of autonomous driving technologies

In an effort to inflate China’s self-driving technology, tech giant Microsoft has determined to unite with the Internet search giant Baidu to obtain the technical development and acceptance of autonomous driving globally. As a member of the Apollo alliance, Microsoft will offer global scale for Apollo outside of China with the Microsoft Azure Cloud. Announced by Baidu in April this year, Apollo is an open platform that provides a comprehensive, safe and dependable solution that supports all major features and functions of an autonomous vehicle.

“We’re excited to partner with Baidu to take a giant step in helping automotive manufacturers and suppliers fully realise the promise of autonomous driving,” Kevin Dallas, corporate vice president, Microsoft, said in a statement. Well, as an important of the partnership, Baidu and Microsoft will chart to discover chance to bring connected vehicle solutions and exceptional customer experiences that will aspire to digitally transform the autonomous driving industry.

“By applying our global cloud AI, machine learning, and deep neural network capabilities to that data, we can accelerate the work already being done to make autonomous vehicles safer,” Dallas added.

According to a report by McKinsey research, up to 15 percent of new cars sold in 2030 will be fully autonomous.

“We are excited to have Microsoft as part of the Apollo alliance. Our goal with Apollo is to provide an open and powerful platform to the automotive industry to further the goal of autonomous vehicles,” said Baidu President Ya-Qin Zhang. “By using Azure, our partners outside of China will have access to a trustworthy and secure public cloud, enabling them to focus on innovating instead of building their own cloud-based infrastructure,” he added.

More than 50 partners from a extensive range of sectors have united the Apollo alliance, including global navigation and mapping service provider TomTom, tier-one suppliers Bosch and Continental, and Southeast Asia’s leading ride-hailing platform Grab. However, tech giant Microsoft has already been working with leaders in the automotive industry to help manufacturers gulp huge volumes of sensor and usage data from connected vehicles and apply that data to distribute actionable intelligence.