Asia Mobility Industries in joint venture with Baidu to launch US$200m smart mobility fund

SINGAPORE-BASED Asia Mobility Industries has teamed up with Chinese technology giant Baidu to launch a US$200 million fund focused on investing in autonomous driving and intelligent transportation technologies.

The fund is part of a joint venture between the Singapore mobility company and Baidu. Called Apollo Southeast Asia, the joint venture aims to establish a foothold for Baidu to commercialise its autonomous driving platform in the region.

The tie-up was announced on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show 2018 in Las Vegas.

Singapore will be the maiden overseas destination for Apollo, Baidu's open-source platform for developing new self-driving car technologies.

Asia Mobility Industries specialises in smart mobility and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The new fund "aims to upgrade existing transportation infrastructure and further smart mobility research and development regionally", the companies said in a statement.

"Baidu hopes to break down geographical boundaries with AI technology. Singapore's local policy environment, market size and technology base make it fertile ground for the development of autonomous driving outside of China," said Baidu president Zhang Ya-Qin.

"We are delighted that Apollo is launching in Singapore, bringing with it China's best technology, resources and operating experience to help build a world-class city for smart mobility. Apollo is from China, but is becoming increasingly global; and in the future, Apollo will cooperate with even more overseas regions."

Tan Kong Hwee, executive director for transport engineering at the Singapore Economic Development Board, said that the establishment of Apollo Southeast Asia "will accelerate the advancement of autonomous vehicle technologies" here.

"Singapore is taking an integrated approach across the government, to enable the adoption of autonomous vehicles and to build capabilities within this space," he noted.

"We welcome like-minded companies to be part of our growing mobility ecosystem to develop, test and commercialise smart mobility solutions for the global market."