Alibaba Joins Rivals Baidu And Tencent In Self Driving Car Test

Alibaba joins its rival internet giants Baidu and Tencent – which are collectively known as BAT – in the artificial intelligence-driven industry. The company is looking to hire 50 more self-driving specialists for its AI research lab.

It is understood that Alibaba is now running road tests of autonomous cars on a regular basis and has the capabilities for open road trials and that its goal is to achieve Level 4 autonomous capability, which means cars can self-drive in most conditions without human intervention.

Wang Gang, Chief Scientist at the company’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Labs, is leading the research team and it has made rapid progress.

Chinese authorities issued regulations on April 12 to allow local road tests for intelligent connected vehicles, which covers different degrees of autonomous driving.

Alibaba’s move follows its rivals, Baidu and Tencent, two other Chinese Internet conglomerates that are also developing self-driving vehicles.