(Yicai Global) Aug. 30 -- Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Group Corp. [SHA:600418] (JAC) and Baidu Inc. [NASDAQ:BIDU] agreed yesterday to put autonomous cars into mass production in the second half of 2019, Chinese media site Ifeng.com reported. These vehicles are set to be the first lot of autonomous driving automobiles created under Baidu's Apollo platform.

JAC also delivered dozens of its Refine S3 autos to Baidu. The internet behemoth will use them for high-precision map data collection.

JAC is among the first batch of key partners Baidu enlisted for its Apollo autonomous driving platform. Baidu will provide JAC comprehensive self-driving solutions for high-precision maps, auto positioning, environmental perception, decision-making and planning.

Baidu has established the largest high-precision map data collection fleet in China. The company uses efficient automated production lines to make high-precision maps that boast wide coverage.