Baidu to see small-scale production of driverless vehicles

BEIJING -- Baidu plans to launch "small-scale production" of fully autonomous mini-buses in July of next year, according to Robin Li, CEO of the Chinese tech giant.

Baidu also plans to launch self-driving car models in cooperation with manufacturers JAC Motors and Beijing Automotive Industry Corp, Li said during the company's annual technology conference.

By connecting with the "Internet of cars," the driverless vehicles will analyse information on signals and roads to improve traffic efficiency.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to bring better road safety.

"The monitoring system developed by Baidu can monitor whether a driver is tired or not. If the driver is tired, the system will issue a warning and perk up the driver with a cheerful song," Li gave an example by demonstrating a feature during the conference.

Baidu's self-driving project was launched in 2013, featuring functions of precise mapping, positioning and intelligent decision.