Chinese web services company Baidu may not be the first name that springs to mind when it comes to self-driving or autonomous vehicles, but it soon will be. They've been working on a new project called Apollo, which integrates the hardware, software and vehicle sides of the autonomous platform into one overarching solution. Apollo will now be available to developers too, the company announced earlier today.

While the number of developers taking on the platform is unknown, Baidu has planned to have tests of the autonomous vehicles in restricted environments by July this year. With simple urban road testing the first step, Baidu ambitiously hopes to have highway-fairing vehicles by 2020.

Along with opening up the platform, Baidu is also aiming to partner with local carmakers like Chery and BAIC. Whether Baidu can gain ground on companies like Google and Tesla with its self-driving car plans, remains to be seen.