Former Uber China executive Luo Gang has joined Jidu Auto, the car-making company that Baidu and Geely have joined forces to build, CnEVPost has learned.
Baidu told CnEVPost that Luo Gang, who previously was working on his own venture in the new energy sector, joined Jidu Auto at its inception.
Technology media outlet 36kr first reported the news of Luo joining Jidu Auto on March 18.
Luo was the general manager of Uber China's southern region and was responsible for building Uber's Chinese business.
After Uber China was acquired by local competitor Didi Chuxing in 2016, and he worked in Didi's aftermarket division.
In July 2017, Luo joined Airbus China, reporting to Paul Eremenko, Chief Technology Officer of Airbus.
He led the landing of the Airbus China Innovation Center in Shenzhen, the company's first innovation center in Asia.
Luo has been an executive in the transportation sector for many years and is well versed in management and the Internet, the 36kr.com report said.
Jidu Auto, a joint venture between Baidu and Geely, was launched on March 2 with Joe Xia Yiping, co-founder and CTO of Mobike, as its CEO.
Jidu Auto has five board seats, with three from Baidu and one from Geely, in addition to Xia.
Baidu said it would support the car company with artificial intelligence, Apollo autonomous driving, Xiaodu voice assistant, and Baidu Maps based on Geely's Sustainable Experience Architecture (SEA) platform.
Robin Li, Baidu's founder, chairman, and CEO said in a conference call in February that everything was running smoothly for the car company.
"A new electric car takes three years from inception to launch, and the timeline for the joint venture is roughly the same," Li said, implying that Baidu will launch the new car in three years.
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