Search Giant Baidu Looks To Self-driving Cars and AI

                        by David Parmer/Tokyo

When referring to Internet search, nobody says “Baidu-It!” Yet. That’s despite the fact that the Baidu search engine has about 80% of the China search market. In 2016 Baidu this didn’t seem to matter as the stock was down 13% for the year. The good news was the Q4 beat expectations and that expectations are good for Q1 2017 and the rest of the year. So investor confidence is up, and maybe 2016 will be remembered as just a speed bump on the way to Baidu’s bright new future that includes two emerging technologies.

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Baidu’s President and co-founder, Robin Li, spoke of Baidu’s future direction with regard to AI and self-driving vehicles. Li’s opinion was that the age of mobile Internet has passed and that the age of AI is upon us. And while people on the other side of the Pacific jockey for position in the autonomous vehicle market, Baidu seems to have pole position in Asia. 

Maybe from 2017 a lot more people will be Goggling Baidu to see what’s up.

Bloomberg Robin Li

Photo: Fortune Live Media via flickr