China's Geely unveils auto robotics brand JI YUE

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group on Monday unveiled a premium intelligent technology brand JI YUE, which stems from Geely's cooperation with Baidu Inc on "automotive robotics", and introduced its first model.

JI YUE 01, the flagship model under the new brand will be produced by Geely and is expected to debut in the last quarter of this year, the company said.

Baidu will provide its know-how in smart cockpits, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technologies, which will be applied in JI YUE cars, Geely added.

"Beyond overseeing sales, services, and marketing for the 01, JI YUE will also build and develop its own charging network in China to meet consumer demand for smart intelligent electric vehicles," according to the statement.

Also on Monday, China's industry ministry website showed three electric vehicles under the JI YUE brand were seeking regulatory approvals.

Geely had co-funded an electric vehicle venture Jidu with Baidu. The brand in June launched a "robot" concept car, marking the first vehicle co-developed by the automaker and Baidu,as global tech companies scramble to develop smart cars.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Ella Cao in Beijing, Meg Shen in Hong Kong; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)