The team will include machine-learning researchers as well as hardware and software engineers across a variety of technical domains, from robotics and computer vision to onboard computers and sensors. Additionally, the company is looking for individuals with experience in the automotive industry.

The Silicon Valley team will be known as ADU-US. It will focus on areas integral to self-driving car development, including planning, perception, control and systems. ADU-US will work alongside Baidu's existing Silicon Valley-based teams, including Baidu Research.

Baidu’s self-driving car vision is based on an incremental approach, which includes starting with small “autonomy-enabled” regions and designing autonomous cars to be clearly recognizable.