Chinese IT giants Baidu and Huawei have signed a partnership agreement in the automotive segment of the market. According to Car News China, the two will unite efforts to supply carmakers with satellite navigators, driving assist systems and smart cockpit solutions.
The Huawei driver interface, which can already be found in such domestic cars as Luxeed S7 and Aito M9, will soon receive Baidu Maps support with a wide feature set. It will come with a full-fledged voice assistant, as well as an opportunity to display the navigation data on the digital dash screen or the heads-up display. Parking assistance and data sharing among supported vehicles will also be implemented.
As well, Baidu Maps will display the remaining wait times at red lights throughout approximately 3,000 districts of China, as well as support real-time navigation around multi-level parking lots. The feature will be unrolled gradually to cars with the Huawei driver UI, meaning that some drivers will get it soon while others will have to wait a little while.
Last but not least, Baidu says it will utilize its experience from running the Apollo self-driving vehicle program in Beijing to make the assist features smarter and better overall.