Reuters exclusively reports Baidu’s auto venture to invest $7.7 bln in ‘robot’ smart cars

Reuters reported exclusively that Jidu Auto, an electric vehicle venture between China’s tech giant Baidu and Chinese automaker Geely, aims to plough 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) into producing smart cars over the next five years. Chief executive Xia Yiping told Reuters the funding would come from Baidu and other investors and Jidu would aim to launch its first electric vehicle in three years, as is standard for the industry, but would make efforts to speed this up.