Baidu meets with state-owned AI self-driving tech firm, as autonomous trucking hold appeal

Chinese internet giant Baidu has met with state-owned Shandong Heavy Industry Group (SHIG) - a major producer of trucks, engines and tractors - for cooperation in artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous driving.

In the meeting between Baidu chairman and chief executive Robin Li Yanhong and SHIG chairman Tan Xuguang on Wednesday, the two agreed to "explore the application of large language models in the fields of intelligent manufacturing and smart driving of commercial vehicles", according to a Thursday statement by the truck maker on its website.

Li said that Baidu would deepen its cooperation with SHIG-owned Weichai Group - known for its diesel engines and trucks, but which has expanded to new-energy vehicles - "to apply full-stack, self-developed AI technologies to serve the high-speed, high-quality development of the country's manufacturing industry", according to the statement.

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Chinese internet giant Baidu met with state-owned Shandong Heavy Industry Group, a major producer of trucks for cooperation in autonomous driving tech on June 26, 2024. Photo: Xinhua alt=Chinese internet giant Baidu met with state-owned Shandong Heavy Industry Group, a major producer of trucks for cooperation in autonomous driving tech on June 26, 2024. Photo: Xinhua>

Tan said that SHIG expected to work with Baidu "to accelerate the profound application of intelligent manufacturing and intelligent driving in the whole ecosystem".

Weichai Group, which also produces power generators and batteries, also plans to "help Baidu build its global data centres", Tan added. Data centres are an increasingly important piece of technology infrastructure amid high demand for the intense computational power needed for modern AI models.

The cooperation comes as Baidu seeks to become a powerhouse in various AI applications, including autonomous driving. Baidu's driverless solutions have been embedded in the passenger cars from brands such as Guangzhou Automobile Group's Aion and Great Wall Motor's Haval, Wey and Tank. It has also partnered with mainstream carmakers such as Ford, Toyota and Cadillac for mapping and in-vehicle infotainment.

The team-up with SHIG marks a step forward for Baidu to dive into the commercial vehicle sector. SHIG is a leading heavy-duty truck producer in China, including its subsidiary Sinotruck, which topped the category with a sales volume of 100,600 units in the first four months of the year, giving it a market share of 28 per cent, according to the state-owned China Automotive News.

Autonomous trucking has long been deemed a better business application for self-driving technologies, as warehouses and factories are more organised than open-road driving in situations encountered by typical taxi services for consumers. Google's Waymo and Tesla, as well as Chinese start-ups TuSimple and Plus, have all been working on their own technologies.

However, the sector has encountered some bumpy roads. Waymo said last year that it would scale back the trucking efforts to focus on robotaxis. Tesla has issued four recalls on its Cybertrucks since launching the product late last year. TuSimple delisted from the Nasdaq earlier this year, pivoting to the Asia-Pacific region.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

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