Baidu and Geely invest in smart car technologies

Baidu and Geely plan to invest the equivalent of almost €6.4 billion in developing smart car technologies over the next five years with their joint venture Jidu Auto, Bloomberg reports. According to the report, 2,500 to 3,000 new employees will be hired over the next two to three years, 500 of them software engineers. The joint venture’s first model (China.Table reported) is expected to be an electric car and will hit the market within the next three years. Baidu has been researching self-driving car technologies for several years. The cooperation “could give Geely a much-needed technological edge in developing smart electric vehicles,” writes Bloomberg. nib