In an effort to “take the technical development and adoption of autonomous driving worldwide,” Microsoft Corp. and Baidu Inc. have announced a new partnership.

Through the partnership, the two companies will, among many things, look into opportunities on how to deliver “connected vehicle solutions and unique customer experiences that aim to digitally transform the autonomous driving industry.”

“Today’s vehicles already have an impressive level of sophistication when it comes to their ability to capture data,” says Kevin Dallas, corporate vice president, Microsoft.

“By applying our global cloud AI, machine learning, and deep neural network capabilities to that data, we can accelerate the work already being done to make autonomous vehicles safer.”

​Microsoft has worked dilligently with leaders in the automotive industry, assisting manufactures as they consume large volumes of sensor and usage data from connected vehicles, and use that data to deliver actionable intelligence.

Several companies have used, or have plans to use, Microsoft’s intelligent cloud technology to help with services such as predictive maintenance, driver assist and voice-controlled media.

This new partnership will also highlight the fact that Microsoft is a member of the Apollo alliance, which has had more than 50 partners from a variety of sectors join it.

Apollo, which was announced back in April by Baidu, is an open platform that provides a “comprehensive, secure and reliable solution that supports all major features and functions of an autonomous vehicle.”

“We are excited to have Microsoft as part of the Apollo alliance,” says Ya-Qin Zhang, president of Baidu. “Our goal with Apollo is to provide an open and powerful platform to the automotive industry to further the goal of autonomous vehicles.”

Using the Microsoft Azure cloud, Microsoft will provide global scale for Apollo outside of China.

“By using Azure, our partners outside of China will have access to a trustworthy and secure public cloud, enabling them to focus on innovating instead of building their own cloud-based infrastructure,” Zhang adds.