Editing China Search Giant Baidu Considers Making Own Electric Vehicles...

<br>BEIJING, Dec 15 (Reuters) - China's Baidu Inc is considering making its own electric vehicles and has held talks with automakers about the possibility, said three people with knowledge of the matter, the latest move in a race among tech firms to develop smart cars.<br> <br>The search engine leader, which also develops autonomous driving technology and internet connectivity infrastructure, is considering contract manufacturing,  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour du lịch phượng hoàng cổ trấn] one of the people said, or creating a majority-owned venture with automakers.<br> <br>The initiative would be a step up from internet peers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc, which have also developed auto-related technology or invested in smart-car startups.<br> <br>Baidu has held preliminary talks - without reaching any decisions - with automakers including Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd and China FAW Group Corp Ltd's Hongqi, on a possible venture, the people said, declining to be identified as the talks were private.<br> <br>Baidu declined to comment.<br><br>GAC said it has a strategic partnership with Baidu and that any further cooperation is subject to discussion. Geely said it was not familiar with the matter. FAW did not respond to a request for  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html kynghidongduong.vn] comment.<br> <br>Baidu established autonomous driving unit Apollo in 2017.<br>The unit mainly supplies technology powered by [http://sportsrants.com/?s=artificial%20intelligence artificial intelligence] and work with automakers such as Geely, Volkswagen AG,  [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/tour-trung-quoc-nam-ninh-truong-gia-gioi-phuong-hoang-co-tran-6-ngay.html tour du lịch phượng hoàng cổ trấn] Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co .<br> <br>Baidu operates autonomous taxi service Go Robotaxi with safety drivers on board in Beijing, Changsha and Cangzhou, and plans to expand to 30 cities in three years.<br><br>It gained approval last week to test five cars in Beijing without safety drivers.<br> <br>Its talks regarding manufacturing come after Didi Chuxing last month launched a purpose-built van for ride-hailing services with automaker BYD Co Ltd. Meanwhile tech giant Sony Corp in January unveiled an electric concept car with self-driving functions.<br> <br>Building cars would represent a dramatic development in Baidu's push to diversify income streams as growth plateaus in its core search business, where revenue grew just 2% last year.<br><br>(Reporting by Yingzhi Yang and Yilei Sun in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Christopher Cushing)<br>