Self-Driving Cars: China’s Come To U.S.; Automakers Adopt Braking
Self-driving cars are inching forward with developments this week — 20 automakers say they’ll add automatic emergency braking by 2022, and China’s Baidu ( BIDU ) will reportedly soon start testing its autonomous cars in the U.S. As about the whole car industry gets into the game, the quest to create a self-driving vehicle puts Chinese Internet search leader Baidu in a tech-development drag race with global search leader Google. The unit of parent firm Alphabet ( GOOGL ) has been developing self-driving vehicles for years. Baidu aims to become a cutting-edge automaker and have its automated vehicles in distribution in 2018, says a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal. The latest move by Baidu comes as U.S. auto safety regulators say that 20 automakers have pledged to make automatic emergency braking a standard feature on nearly all U.S. vehicles by 2022, a move that could prevent thousands of rear-end accidents each year – and ensure that the companies aren’t left in the dust as car technology advances. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) hailed the voluntary commitment by 20 automakers representing more than 99% of U.S. vehicle sales. Companies including General Motors ( GM ), Ford ( F ), Toyota ( TM ), Volkswagen ( VLKAY ), Daimler ( DDAIF ), Nissan Motor ( NSANY ) and Honda Motor ( HMC ) have signed on. While Apple ( AAPL ) has been widely reported to be among those in the self-driving car game, the company hasn’t confirmed any involvement. Baidu stock rose 0.2% to 183.44 in the stock market today . Apple stock fell 0.2% to 105.80. Mobileye ( MBLY ) stock appeared to benefit after news of the emergency braking standard emerged on Wednesday, soaring 9.5%. Mobileye, a maker of autonomous car technology, saw its stock rise 1.4% Thursday. Since its IPO last August, Mobileye stock has jumped 48% from its IPO price of 25. Mobileye has said millions of vehicles include its system as it works with BMW and automakers such as Tesla Motors ( TSLA ), GM and Honda. Along with Mobileye, NXP Semiconductors ( ), Nvidia ( NVDA ), Ambarella ( AMBA ) and others are partnering with automakers to develop chips and other technology needed for self-driving cars. German automaker BMW said in September 2014 that it had teamed up with Baidu to create self-driving cars. At that time, BMW said its project with Baidu was designed to achieve “accident-free mobility” while enhancing comfort and efficiency for drivers in China, the world’s top car-producing nation. Baidu already provides Internet cloud services to BMW as well as mapping services through Baidu Maps, BMW said then. On Tuesday, the chief of self-driving car development at Google told a U.S. Senate panel that “Congress has a huge opportunity to help ensure that self-driving cars can be safely deployed at scale,” as the Alphabet subsidiary and others attempt to fast-track development of the technology. Chris Urmson, director of the self-driving car program at Google X, was among those who testified at the hearing that was convened by U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. The hearing came a month after one of Google’s self-driving cars hit a municipal bus in California. Google has said new software changes will avoid future incidents. In a report last year, Boston Consulting Group cautioned that self-driving cars won’t likely appear widely on roads until 2025, but the technology could emerge sooner in automated ride-sharing services in city centers. This week’s U.S. government hearing included testimony from GM and ride-sharing company Lyft, which are in a partnership to develop self-driving cars. Driverless trucks and cars will be tested soon in the U.K., according to a BBC report on Thursday.