Baidu and Ford Motor (China) on June 27 confirmed cooperation intention in frontier mobility fields including AI, connectivity, and digital marketing by signing a formal Letter of Intent (LOI).
The cooperation is likely to utilize Ford Motorโs existing industrial advantages, manufacturing assets, and extensive professional networks to support Baiduโs ambition in autonomous driving and related research projects. In return, Baiduโs massive data including those collected in Baidu map will further allow traditional car manufacturer Ford Motor to acquire first-hand information.
Baiduโs dominant position in Chinaโs search engines will also expand Fordโs marketing channels in China. The big data leader will enable Ford to accurately understand market movements, consumer behavior shifts, and tailored-marketing plans.
Further, according to the Letter, new in-vehicle infotainment systems and digital services based on Baiduโs DuerOS conversational AI platform are one major focus of the cooperation. The systems and the platform are featured with voice recognition, natural language understanding, and image recognition.
Peter Fleet, Ford group vice president and president of Ford Asia Pacific and Ya-Qin Zhang, president of Baidu, met today at Baiduโs headquarters in Beijing for the signing of the Letter.
โCollaborating with leading technology companies such as Baidu supports our vision to become the worldโs most trusted mobility company by leveraging new opportunities to build a sustainable mobility ecosystem. As part of our โIn China, For Chinaโ strategy, we look forward to working closely to offer smart products and solutions that can make peopleโs lives easier and more enjoyable,โ Peter Fleet said.
However, though general global earnings topped estimates, Fordโs performance in Asia Pacific region for the period first quarter of 2018 was not satisfactory. Its fiscal report showed a regional Earnings before Interest and Tax (EBIT) loss of $119 million, which Ford attributed to poor China business. Fordโs Mobility business eyeing autonomous driving and other commercial mobility potentials, were also suffering from losses.
To sustain ambition in technological pursuit, the two parties are also putting building a joint connectivity lab for innovations such as cloud-based AI in the automotive and mobility fields in China into schedule.
Ford joined Baiduโs Apollo autonomous driving open platform 1.0 as one of the 15 whole-car manufacturing as founding members in July 2017. Also in the foundersโ list include global giant Daimler, strong domestic new energy player BAIC BJEV (ๅๆฑฝๆฐ่ฝๆบ), and emerging startup NIO (่ๆฅ).
Robert Hou, director of mobility platforms and products, Ford Asia Pacific and Tan Su, general manager of Baiduโs internet of vehicles division, signed the strategic cooperation agreement on behalf of the two companies.
