(Yicai Global) Feb. 23 -- Gu Weihao, who headed Chinese internet giant Baidu’s Intelligent Vehicle Division until 2019, will join rival Great Wall Motor’s autonomous driving subsidiary as chief executive officer, people with knowledge of the matter told Yicai Global yesterday.

Together with GWM’s Head of Intelligent Driving Zhang Kai and GWM’s Director of Intelligent Driving Zhen Longbao, Gu will steer Haomo Intelligent Mobility’s path in the smart car market.

Gu, who worked at Baidu for 16 years, brings with him a wealth of experience in artificial intelligence, deep learning, Big Data, maps and data processing technology, GMW insiders told Yicai Global.

Beijing-based Haomo is primarily engaged in the development of self-driving passenger cars and low-speed unmanned logistics vehicles, as well as building an Advanced Driving Assistance System.

Together with one of China’s largest supermarket chains Wumart Stores, Haomo is currently testing a driverless logistics vehicle in Beijing’s Shunyi district that is delivering orders to customers. The firm has also penned contracts with food delivery company Meituan and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding.

Earlier this month Haomo raised CNY300 million (USD46.4 million) in a pre-A financing round led by Meituan, steel conglomerate Shougang Group and investment firm Hillhouse Capital. The company is planning to list on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Nasdaq-style Star Market in 2023.

GWM is aiming to achieve Level 3 autonomous driving, or conditional automation when the driver must be ready to intervene when prompted, this year and Level 4 autonomous driving, when a vehicle can handle most of the driving by itself without human intervention, by 2023, the Beijing-based firm said last year.

Set up in 2019, Haomo Zhixing is 42 percent owned by GWM’s majority shareholder Wei Jianjun and 40 percent owned by GWM.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor