Internet giants in race to driverless future

Baidu debuts its self-driving car at an expo in Wuzhen, East China's Zhejiang, Dec 14, 2015. [Photo/IC]

Baidu's top executives are lobbying Chinese and US legislatures to support the development and commercial use of self-driving technologies.

Robin Li, its founder and CEO, urged Chinese authorities earlier this month to implement regulations and technology standards on self-driving cars.

Appearing at a hearing hosted by the US Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Ng also called on the US government to remove certain regulations that hinder the commercialization of robot cars.

Yang Huachao, an analyst with China Galaxy Securities Co, said the auto-driving market is likely to really start accelerating around 2020, when Baidu, LeEco, Google Inc, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and other tech companies all introduce their retail models.

"The auto-driving sector is a long-term investment opportunity.

"Companies such as Alibaba, Baidu and LeEco were among the first developers of the technology, and are likely to start earning from it a little earlier than others," said Yang.

A report from Beijing-based broker Essence Securities Co Ltd said likely support from the government will fuel auto-driving market growth over the next several years.

But it also warned of the possibility that some companies could fail to deliver the vehicles on time due to technical difficulties.

By 2025, approximately 20 million self-driving cars will be built worldwide, and the market could worth up to $1.9 trillion, according to consultancies Juniper Research and McKinsey & Co.