Baidu teamed up with Asia Mobility Industries to launch a new Singapore-based mobility venture fund, called “Apollo Southeast Asia.” This will also help establish a foothold for Baidu to pursue commercialization of its autonomous driving platform in the region, and source strategic partners for its deployment.
The fund being launched along with the joint venture includes $200 million in available investment capital, which will be put into companies working on all aspects of autonomous driving and connected, smart transportation services.
Baidu’s partner in the region, AMI, is a company that works on AI and mobility services, and it’s working with Singapore’s transit authority through one of its subsidiaries to develop smart mobility solutions for the region that can work across borders and improve transportation for residents of Southeast Asia.
The company pouring more resources into the region should help it grow the stable of partners it has on its Apollo platform even further; already, the list is getting bigger with a number of announcements at CES. Ultimately, Baidu hopes Apollo will become a sort of Android of the autonomous driving world, acting as an open platform that a range of automakers and other companies use as the basis for their own self-driving vehicles and services.