Baidu envisions robot cars with echo-like home gadget

Baidu Inc has unveiled its latest plans to stake out a spot in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence, including a partnership with Nvidia Corp to develop driver-less cars and a home gadget akin to Amazon.com Inc's popular Echo.

Chief Executive Officer Robin Li is banking on artificial intelligence (AI) to jumpstart a slowing internet search and advertising business. It will be the single most important technology in the internet sector, the company founder told investors, employees and analysts gathered at the Baidu World conference in Beijing. The tag line for this year's confab: "AI is the new electricity."

AI has become a strategic area of investment for technology companies including Apple Inc and Google. The bet is that whomever makes the most engaging digital personal assistants and software will control the layer between users and their digital lives, profiting off that relationship. By working with speaker-maker Harman International Industries Inc, Baidu wants to create a smart device that, like the Echo, can understand spoken commands and order food or summon cars.

The Chinese search giant is also trying to exert its own influence on the rapidly deepening field. It will release its "PaddlePaddle" software on GitHub September 30, letting AI enthusiasts freely make use of the development tools. The move resembles Google's release of TensorFlow, an attempt to set the standard on AI programming.

"AI is the next big development of the internet industry," Li said. "We can do things that we never thought we'd be able to do. I'd like to invite everyone to rethink the sector we're in - to rethink the Chinese economy."

Artificial intelligence enables products such as personal assistants, including Google Now and Amazon's Alexa. It helps Baidu target advertising. And it makes new product categories possible, from autonomous cars to new models for entertainment in virtual reality.

By combining its ability to crawl the web, deep understanding of hundreds of millions of Chinese users and facial and voice recognition technology, Baidu plans to create detailed profiles of every person. This in turn can be used to develop products and market services. The company demonstrated a sales call that turned the thick Beijing accent of one customer into text in real-time.

Autonomous cars is another area the company is making a big bet on. Baidu thinks driverless vehicles will become a commercial reality in coming years and, like other major technology companies, is already testing prototypes. Nvidia, a maker of computer microchips for graphics, and Baidu will build operating software for self-driving that encompasses mapping and adapts to changing environments.