(Yicai) Aug. 8 -- A consortium set up by Chinese digital maps provider NavInfo and a firm owned by Baidu’s founder has won the tender to supply intelligent roadside equipment for the expansion of the third phase of Beijing's high-level autonomous driving demonstration zone.

The consortium of NavInfo unit Cennavi and Beijing Baidu Netcom Science and Technology will supply the gear and related services after it placed a winning bid of CNY250 million (USD35 million) for the project, NavInfo announced late yesterday.

The pair will divide the work and income based on the agreement they signed when the consortium was formed, Beijing-based NavInfo said, without disclosing any other figures or a work schedule.

Baidu Netcom provides internet search products and services, with Baidu founder and Chief Executive Robin Li holding a 99.5 percent stake in the company.

The gear supplied will provide intelligent network services for high-level self-driving vehicles and will also take into account smart city functions such as traffic control, NavInfo said. The project will be a valuable experience for the firm’s subsequent vehicle-road-cloud integration projects, likely boosting its operating performance and business development, it added.

Beijing laid out the test area in the capital’s economic development zone in 2020 and built an integrated vehicle-road-cloud ecosystem as a first step toward mass use of self-driving vehicles above Level 4. It launched the third phase of the area’s expansion project in 2022.

The goal for this year is to further expand the area by 440 square kilometers to 600 sq km, according to documents previously released by the city government.

Shares of NavInfo [SHE: 002405] closed flat at CNY6.55 (91 US cents) apiece today, after jumping by as much as 5.8 percent in the morning. The stock is down 26 percent since the end of last year, compared with an 11.3 percent retreat in the benchmark Shenzhen Component Index.

Editor: Martin Kadiev