It is reported that BYD withdrew from Baidu's self-driving cooperation and turned to internal development.

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizens and soft media users for 1520111 clue delivery! CTOnews.com, August 15, according to the South China Morning Post, two people familiar with the matter revealed that BYD has abandoned the agreement to equip its electric vehicles with Baidu self-driving technology and will focus on developing smart car software internally.

BYD first agreed to use Baidu's technology in its electric vehicles, including navigation and automatic valet parking, in March 2022, the report said. The deal was seen at the time as a major partnership with Apollo, Baidu's self-driving unit.

In its third-quarter results in November 2022, Baidu said one of China's largest carmakers planned to use Apollo technology suites, saying the partnership showed "automakers' growing interest in their self-driving solutions". The partner was later disclosed as BYD.

As of CTOnews.com, Baidu and BYD did not respond.

According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity, Baidu has invested billions of yuan in Apollo and still makes self-driving a priority, according to the South China Morning Post. Another source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that BYD had "suspended" its cooperation with Baidu on self-driving technology. Because BYD believes that self-driving technology has no immediate prospect in the mass market of electric vehicles.