German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen will assist Jidu, a smart electric-vehicle brand of Chinese self-driving technology developer Baidu, to develop chassis and other components.
Under an agreement signed this week, ZF will be responsible for developing chassis components and related digital interface, Jidu said.
The two sides will also carry out close cooperation in areas including vehicle control, electric drive and passive safety, it added, without divulging further details on the cooperation.
Jidu was created in March 2021 to develop full-electric vehicles capable of Level 4 autonomous driving.
China’s largest private domestic automaker, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, will engineer and produce the vehicles as a co-investor in the brand.
With investment of $400 million pledged by Baidu and Geely, Jidu is set to unveil a concept car at the Beijing auto show in April. Jidu plans to roll out the production version of the vehicle sometime next year.
ZF is ranked at No. 3 on the Automotive News Europe list of the top 100 global suppliers, with worldwide parts sales to automakers of $33.4 billion in 2020.
