China-based Baidu says it will launch its first driverless car in the second half of 2015. It had previously, a said it was working on such a car but did not say when it would be available.

The news, reported by Chinese language website TechWeb, will put it head to head with Google, a rival in the web industry.

The firm will work with an unnamed car manufacturer, according to Baidu's senior vice president Jin Wang. He made the announcement at the China Cloud Computing conference, the BBC reports

The firm has previously teamed with BMW to develop semi-autonomous car technology. The head of Baidu's deep learning lab Yu Kai has previously told the press that the firm does not agree with Google's view of a completely autonomous car. Instead, it looks to develop a vehicle that will retain traditional pedals but give the driver greater freedom.