Jidu Auto, an EV startup backed by search engine giant Baidu and automaker Geely, will embed Baidu’s chatbot Ernie in its cars, said XIA Yiping on Tuesday. It will be the first smart EV to be mounted with a chatbot.

Jidu was founded in 2021 and unveiled its first model ROBO-01 in June last year. Based on Geely’s SEA platform, the EV has a range of 600 kilometers and is priced at 400,000 yuan (US$60,000).

Led by Tesla, EV makers have been reducing prices since 2023. Xia isn’t worried about that impacting the pricing strategy of Jidu. He has said that Tesla only reduced their prices because “its product is not as good as before.”

ROBO-01 will be delivered this year. Xia said by 2028, Jidu will be able to deliver 800,000 smart EVs a year.