Before Ali entered the game, now Baidu is out to sea, and the Internet car is finally moving!

Can't wait, father bat is going into the sea by himself.

Recently, according to foreign media reports, three people familiar with the matter revealed that Baidu is considering producing its own electric car and has cooperated with Geely Automobile? Guangzhou Automobile Group and FAW Group have held talks on this possibility, or set up a joint venture company with a majority stake, but no agreement has been reached.

Affected by the news, Baidu's share price rose by 13.83% on Tuesday to 185.5 USD, the highest since April 20 19, and its market value returned to 60 billion USD, reaching 63.2 billion USD.

As a capital giant and a network technology giant, BATM has just made a low-key effort in autonomous driving and intelligent networking, or as the father of the capital of the new force to build cars, standing behind the scenes and secretly wrestling.

I thought that the technology giants just wanted to stand behind the car companies by the power of capital and make money invisible. Unexpectedly, I finally came to the step of personally entering the game to seize the terminal car users.

But as an internet technology giant, is Baidu really for the end market in this battle to build a car and go to sea? Or is the drunkard deliberately not drinking? Who will eventually form an alliance with?

Ask first if it is.

Regarding the network rumors, among the three named vehicle companies, FAW said it had never heard of it, while Geely said it was not familiar with it. Only GAC said a few more words. GAC told the media that it has a strategic partnership with Baidu and any further cooperation remains to be discussed.

Baidu, the protagonist of this car rumor, said: No comment on market rumors.

After all, no agreement has been reached, and there are naturally very few insiders. Even if they know, they can't say anything that is not ambiguous. However, Baidu's "no comment" affirmed the possibility of this matter to some extent.

Prior to this, based on the R&D and application of AI technology and autonomous driving technology, Baidu reached strategic cooperative relations with a number of car companies as early as a few years ago, and Geely, FAW and Guangzhou Automobile were no exception.

2065438+In July 2007, Baidu and FAW signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement, and the two sides will further explore the cooperation mode of "automobile+Internet". On 20 18 1 1, Li Yanhong and FAW Xu Liuping announced that they would mass-produce the first batch of L4 self-driving passenger cars in China. 2065438+In September 2009, Baidu and FAW Hongqi jointly launched the Red Flag EVRobotaxi, which has been opened to the public on the streets of Changsha and Beijing.

At the AI Developers Conference in July, 20 19, Geely Li Shufu and Li Yanhong both announced that Baidu and Geely Holding will launch comprehensive strategic cooperation on the application of AI technologies such as intelligent networking, smart driving, smart home and e-commerce in the fields of automobiles and travel, and * * * research and explore "the strongest car+the strongest? Ai

Earlier this month, Guangzhou Automobile Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Baidu. According to the agreement, the two sides will jointly develop related technologies and industries in the fields of intelligent driving, intelligent car association and digital marketing through effective cooperation modes such as complementary resources and technologies, and jointly provide comprehensive, systematic and reliable solutions in the fields of automatic driving and mobile travel, intelligent network connection and intelligent transportation.

Although Baidu has not personally set foot in building cars in recent years, its cooperation with vehicle manufacturers has been constant.

In an interview with the Beijing News on 20 18, Li Yanhong said: "We will not open our own production line, design our own engines, and study fluid mechanics or industrial design ourselves. We will only do the research and development of autonomous driving technology that we are best at, open it up and do it with all enterprises interested in unmanned vehicles."

In short: "no car".

However, in the face of the full-screen Putian advertisement, Li Yanhong can say: "The algorithm should understand the advanced goals of the audience." What did Li Can Hong Yan say if he didn't hit himself in the face?

And based on Baidu? With the maturity of Apollo autopilot technology, it is not impossible for Baidu to develop its own brand in order to show the superiority of technology. While developing its own brand, it may also mean that Baidu will have reservations about the technology opening of other car companies.

Ask again why

Say yes and ask why.

So who instructed Brother Robin to let Baidu, who was originally technically honest, go into battle in person? At present, it seems that this is related to SAIC and Alibaba Group's announcement to jointly build a brand-new smart electric vehicle brand "Zhiji Automobile".

Although in this alliance, Ali 18% equity does not occupy the dominant voice in development, Ali's big data and cloud computing technology will surely become the key links in this new business value model. On this basis, as a new brand of intelligent electric vehicles, it is estimated that Ali will be the dominant factor in the system algorithm.

Moreover, from this concept of "redefining business value model" with strong Internet flavor, we can also perceive one or two things. Although Ali does not make big capital, he still has a certain say in product research and development and brand positioning.

Although Baidu has strategic cooperation with major car companies, it still lacks a physical product that can make its own decisions.

Tesla, also known for its software technology, was spurned, but the system was out of control, the seat was loose, and the decorative board fell off, but it did not affect this "software company" to rely on software technology to cut leeks crazily. A fully automatic driving system cost 8,000 US dollars. After all, technological progress is priceless, and fans will choose to pay the bill if they bite their teeth.

Although Baidu's autonomous driving technology has entered the mature stage of trial operation, there is still a lack of a product named after Baidu to harvest software dividends for consumers in vehicle-mounted consumer terminals.

On the other hand, although the new technology can be put into trial use on the products of strategic partners, based on the supply relationship, strategic partners are still others after all. Due to the consideration of technology cost, strategic partners may be reluctant to put most of the high-cost and unproven technologies into their products.

Therefore, it is quite necessary for Baidu to have a real automobile product with the dominant voice for its technology promotion and upgrading.

Therefore, on the one hand, Baidu's entry has Ali's stimulating factors, and it is necessary to closely prepare for the future contest, on the other hand, it is also paving the way for its own software upgrade and possible software economy in the future.

Who is the best partner?

At present, Baidu is only with Geely? GAC and FAW have negotiated this possibility, but who will be the last ally? There are no fixed figures at present.

Who Baidu will eventually choose depends on what Baidu needs and who needs Baidu more.

Today, Guangzhou Automobile Group said on the interactive platform that the research and development of graphene batteries is continuing, and it is expected that the technology will go to the real vehicle mass production test by the end of this year. If Baidu chooses GAC, it may be able to take the lead in product strength in the future.

However, considering from GAC itself, GAC already has its own independent electric vehicle brand-Aian; In terms of autopilot technology, GAC New Energy officially stated that the ADiGO3.0 autopilot (conditional) system can already achieve L3 autopilot; Considering these two points, the willingness of GAC to cooperate with Baidu may not be strong.

As for Geely, in June 5438+10, Geely's power exchange technology platform and vehicle architecture platform have officially landed. /kloc-in late October, Geely Technology and Chongqing Expressway signed a cooperation agreement to prepare for the layout of the power exchange industry; In terms of autonomous driving, Geely already has a "huge" architecture with fully autonomous driving capability, and related models will realize fully autonomous driving on structured roads in 2022. Obviously, Geely's demand for technical cooperation is not strong.

Among the three, only FAW has no independent brand of electric vehicles, as well as electric vehicle-related business sectors such as power battery technology and autonomous driving technology.

If Baidu chooses to cooperate with FAW, it will be of great benefit to FAW electrification.

Moreover, the first two intentional partners with better and better electric vehicle technology are obviously unwilling to be Baidu's automobile foundry. In order to enrich the group's independent product matrix, I believe FAW will not mind this cooperation too much.

At this point, Li Yanhong's grand plan to build a car can be regarded as a spark for Internet tycoons to build a car. But in the future, whether Baidu will become an outstanding showstopper, ignite a wave of internet car-making heat waves, or will eventually disappear remains to be revealed.

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.