New | Baidu's Yu Kai talks autonomous cars, artificial intelligence and the future of search

The future of driving will be as easy as riding a horse which knows where its going and how to get there, according to Chinese web giant Baidu's top artificial-intelligence (AI) researcher.

Self-driving cars will understand the road ahead of them and autonomously navigate around pedestrians and other obstructions, said Yu Kai, head of the Baidu Institute of Deep Learning (IDL).

Based in Beijing, IDL is often known as "Baidu's Brain", a place for the search engine powerhouse to bring together the smartest scientists from all over the world to work on innovations and new technology.

"We've been busy working on the autonomous car, and we aim to put a prototype on a Beijing highway in the second half of this year," Yu said in a recent interview with the South China Morning Post in the firm's headquarters.

"Our idea is not that a car should totally replace the driver, but that it will give the driver freedom. So the car is intelligent enough to operate by itself, like a horse, and make decisions depending on different road situations," said Yu, who is also senior director of the company's image search department.

"But whenever the driver wants to resume control, you can do that," he said, adding that the Baidu self-driving car would have a steering wheel as well as gas and brake pedals.