Let's play Chinese checkers in driverless cars

So, it would seem Baidu has already done the math and thus invested in Uber, the world's most-valued car-hailing app.

"China faces some of the same challenges in implementing autonomous driving as other countries do. The transition period, where some vehicles are autonomous and others not, will be one common challenge. The main difference is in what the governments can do. In China, this will certainly be different－but not necessarily more difficult. In fact, for many reasons, we believe there may be more willingness to facilitate autonomous driving," Baidu said in an e-mail to China Daily.

But there is still one hoop Baidu needs to jump through before the driverless car goes into mass production－its cost.

Li Deyi, head of the Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, said cost is a critical factor for such cars. "There is no strong incentive for ordinary people to buy a 1 million yuan ($151,900) autonomous driving car. If it were up to me, I'd rather get a 200,000 yuan car and hire a good driver."

Gao Yuan contributed to this story.