Baidu's car-making unit Jidu Auto plans to invest 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) over the next five years to build smart cars, yicai.com reported Friday.

Jidu Auto CEO Xia Yiping said the company's products are planned in "series" with a new car launched every 1-1.5 years. "Based on such a speed and investment, it is expected to invest 50 billion yuan in the next five years."

He said Jidu Auto will soon raise its next round of financing with continued investment from Baidu as the initial shareholder, and will also accept outside financing.

Jidu Auto will hire 2,500-3,000 employees over the next two to three years, according to Reuters.

Car design has been underway since February, and the first self-developed and designed electric car will be unveiled at next year's auto show, Xia said.

All of Jidu Auto's cars will have L4 self-driving capability, but whether that capability is fully unlocked is subject to future regulations, Xia said.

On Jan. 11, Baidu announced the formation of an electric car company with Geely to enter the auto industry as a vehicle manufacturer.

Jidu Auto was officially launched on March 2 and will be based on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform, supporting the car with artificial intelligence, Apollo autonomous driving, Xiaodu voice assistant, and Baidu Maps.

The company has a total of five board seats, with three directors from Baidu and one from Geely, in addition to Xia.

Robin Li, Baidu's founder, chairman, and CEO, said in a conference call in February that a new electric car takes three years from inception to launch, and the timeline for the joint venture is roughly the same, implying that Baidu will launch the new car in three years.

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(Source: Baidu)