(Yicai) Feb. 28 -- Chinese tech giant Baidu and battery behemoth Contemporary Amperex Technology have linked arms to collaborate in autonomous driving technology and artificial intelligence in digitalization. 

The alliance aims to facilitate the popularization and development of self-driving services and advance the application and promotion of AI in industrial settings, CATL announced yesterday, citing a deal it recently inked with Baidu unit Baidu Netcom Science and Technology.

CATL and Baidu will actively leverage their respective strengths, including the former's battery tech, battery swapping products and services, and skateboard chassis, to develop autonomous vehicles, the Ningde-based company noted. The pair will also jointly explore and create competitive self-driving autos and innovative business models to provide users with more convenient and high-quality mobility services, it added.

Baidu will support CATL's intelligent digitalization efforts with its full-stack, self-controlled AI capabilities, covering chips, platforms, and applications, the batter maker noted, adding that the collaboration will inject new momentum into its green transformation, with the two companies to co-build a smart energy future.

CATL saw the use of its power packs in electric vehicles jump 32 percent to 339.3 gigawatt-hours last year from the year before, ranking as the world's biggest EV battery maker for the eighth straight year, according to figures released by South Korean market research firm SNE Research on Feb. 11.

EV battery use worldwide surged 27 percent to 894.4 GWh in 2024, with CATL remaining the only supplier with a more than 30 percent share of the global market, growing it to 37.9 percent from 36.6 percent.

Beijing-based Baidu has been investing in autonomous driving technology for over a decade. Its robotaxi service Apollo Go transitioned to full self-driving last year, becoming China's first such service to achieve large-scale commercial operation.

Editor: Martin Kadiev