Baidu tests in Beijing his car without driver and without authorization

For the Chinese, Robin Li is the equivalent of Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, with a common taste for show and self-promotion that characterizes the leaders of high-tech companies. On Wednesday, July 5th, the founder of Baidu, the number one search engine in China, caused a sensation: he tested, sitting in the front passenger seat, one of the cars without drivers that the group wants to start Put into circulation in several cities in 2018 before an entry into production scheduled for 2021.

When questioned by the Beijing Journal, the police explained that they had been informed of the move and decided to open an investigation because the use of cars without a driver is forbidden in the city.

Baidu wants to be the number one in the smart car market. On Wednesday, its president and chief operating officer Lu Qi, a former Microsoft executive, announced that it had signed 50 partnerships for its Apollo program, including four Chinese automakers and German groups Bosch and Continental.