Baidu plans to build electric vehicles at Geely plant

Chinese internet giant Baidu is planning to set up a smart electric car company, using factories owned by automaker Geely. This was reported by Reuters, citing two informants familiar with the matter. According to them, Baidu will receive a controlling stake and absolute voting rights in the new company.

Sources said the venture is upgrading some of Geely’s existing manufacturing facilities to build vehicles that will use Baidu’s software and Geely’s engineering know-how.

The companies are in talks to leverage Geely’s Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform for electric vehicles.

Baidu, which develops self-driving technology and internet connectivity infrastructure, is considering building its own electric vehicles in December. Then, in addition to Geely, two more Chinese companies were named among the automakers with whom Baidu held preliminary negotiations on the creation of a joint venture.

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