Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) giant Baidu has partnered with German automotive suppliers Bosch and Continental AG on smart automobile research and development.

Baidu will cooperate with the two firms on self-driving systems and vehicles, smart transportation and the Internet of Vehicles, said a Xinhua report.

Strategic agreements were inked during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Germany this week and aim to leverage China's leading AI technologies with German automobile expertise to upgrade the transport industry.

Application of AI technologies has great potential for powering social development, and the smart automobiles sector is one of the most promising, according to Lu Qi, Baidu vice chairman, group president and COO.

Baidu launched "Apollo" in April, an open, complete and reliable software platform for the automotive and autonomous driving industry.

The Chinese firm has been investing in R&D for autonomous driving technology since 2015. It has conducted successful road tests for its fully autonomous cars on the highways and roads of Beijing in late 2015 and finished the open trial operation of its autonomous car fleet in late 2016 at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province.