BEIJING, Jan. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Baidu's intelligent
electric vehicle arm JIDU announced that it has closed Series A
financing, raising nearly $400
million. This round of financing was backed by Baidu and its
strategic partner multinational auto manufacturer Zhejiang Geely
Holding Group ("Geely").
With the completion of financing, JIDU is set to continue
accelerating the progress in R&D and achieving mass production.
The brand's first Robocar concept car will be unveiled at the
Beijing Auto Show in April this year, with a mass-produced model
set to be launched in 2023.
In January 2021, Baidu announced
its plan to enter the automotive industry by launching a smart car
company. In March, JIDU was established and received over
$300 million in start-up capital.
Now, in the span of only ten months, JIDU has received a new round
of financing. JIDU is widely recognized by the industry for its
innovative product development process and the speed at which it
has developed its first model, outperforming the industry
average.
The success of the new round of financing will help JIDU
accelerate its R&D and mass production of the Robocar. Moving
forward, JIDU will expand its R&D team with a focus on talent
acquisition, especially in fields including advanced autonomous
driving, smart cockpit and smart manufacturing. JIDU will also
build up a system to facilitate user growth and market operation.
By 2023, JIDU aims to present to the world a Robocar with
outstanding user experience and cost-effectiveness, setting an
industry benchmark for smart cars.
As an important strategic initiative by Baidu in the field of
intelligent mobility, JIDU is committed to creating a revolutionary
Robocar that combines both intelligence and emotion, leading to a
profound change in transportation. "It has only been 10 months
since JIDU started its journey," said Yiping Xia, CEO of JIDU. "With the support of
cutting-edge AI technology combined with a high-quality vehicle
platform and manufacturing process, JIDU's efficient development of
automotive robot has been proven – the brain, nerve system, and
body of the Robocar are all under rapid development. When the
product is delivered (in 2023), it will be a benchmark-level
product."
Xia continued, "I would like to express my special thanks to the
entire team who accompanied this project from the scratch. Moving
on, we will continue to focus on product development and build our
business network to quickly move forward. Our goal, as always, is
to provide users with more revolutionary products that exceed
expectations."
About Baidu
Founded in 2000, Baidu's mission is to make the complicated
world simpler through technology. Baidu is a leading AI company
with strong Internet foundation, trading on the NASDAQ under "BIDU"
and HKEX under "9888." One Baidu ADS represents eight Class A
ordinary shares.
About JIDU
JIDU is a Robocar start-up company initiated by Baidu Group and
invested by Geely Group. Founded in March
2021 with Yiping Xia as CEO,
JIDU is committed to R&D and popularization of the world's top
autonomous driving and human-machine interaction technology,
creating revolutionary Robocar with emotion and intelligence,
giving people more space and time to realize more
possibilities.
Media Contact
Intlcomm@baidu.com
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SOURCE Baidu, Inc.