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The project will start testing on designated roads in Beijing by
the end of this year, and possibly other Chinese cities, the two
companies said in a statement.
The vehicles will be capable of operating autonomously in
certain conditions by the time the project finishes the
development and testing process, they said.
By the end of the test period, the project will reach so-called
level 4 technology for autonomous vehicles, or autonomous
driving but not in all conditions. It is the second-highest tier
after level 5, which describes vehicles that should be capable
of navigating roads without any driver input.
Ford and Baidu, China's top search engine operator that is also
taking a lead role in self-driving tech in the country, said in
June they would develop connected services, artificial
intelligence and digital marketing in China.
The U.S. carmaker, which is grappling with slowing China sales,
is a founding member of the Apollo Committee, an advisory group
for Baidu's Apollo autonomous driving open platform.
China's capital city gave German auto maker Daimler AG the green
light to test self-driving cars on roads in July, making it the
first international car maker to be granted such a license in
Beijing.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun in Beijing and Adam Jourdan in Shanghai;
Editing by Neil Fullick
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