Baidu will be making use of some of Microsoft’s Azure services, as part of MIcrosoft’s Connected Vehicle tookit, in delivering its self-driving car platform.<\/b>
\nBaidu will use some Microsoft Azure services as part of its self-driving car efforts outside of China.
Baidu announced in early July that it was working with Microsoft on its open source self-driving car platform, but declined to provide many specifics beyond that it involved the \u00ab\u00a0Microsoft Cloud\u00a0\u00bb in some way. Baidu took the wraps off its Apollo autonomous-driving platform in April this year and said its partners would be able to begin using it in July 2017.
Today, July 18, Microsoft issued its own press release which offered an additional detail or two on its involvement with Baidu and Apollo.
From Microsoft’s press release, the required \u00ab\u00a0digital transformation\u00a0\u00bb blablabla:
The press release also mentions Baidu will be \u00ab\u00a0using Azure\u00a0\u00bb outside of China, and that Microsoft will be \u00ab\u00a0applying our global cloud AI, machine learning and deep neural network capabilities to that data\u00a0\u00bb in helping make autonomous vehicles safer.
Just a reminder: Microsoft shifted gears in the automotive market a year ago. Instead of trying to convince car makers to embed Windows in cars, Microsoft is now focusing on cloud-connected car scenarios via its \u00ab\u00a0Microsoft Connected Vehicle\u00a0\u00bb strategy.
Microsoft is now aiming to get more vehicles to use Microsoft cloud services, like Office 365 and Azure, rather than continuing to try to get Windows itself inside cars via \u00ab\u00a0Windows Automotive\u00a0\u00bb or some other embedded Windows variant.
Renault-Nissan, BMW and Volvo have all announced various partnerships with Microsoft for its connected-car services.
Qi Lu, who previously was head of Microsoft’s Applications and Services Group, is currently Baidu’s President and Chief Operating Officer.<\/p>\n

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