BEIJING -- The administrative committee of Xiongan New Area has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China's Internet giant Baidu on a so-called AI-City Program to introduce AI technology in the urban planning and building of the area.

The area, established in April, is a new economic zone about 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing in Hebei province. China aims to build it as a low-carbon, intelligent, livable and globally influential city where people and nature exist in harmony.

Li Yanhong, chair and CEO of Baidu, said Baidu would offer its knowledge in AI, big data, unmanned driving and cloud computing technology to support Xiongan building a smart city in several areas, including transport, education, security and environmental protection.

On Wednesday, Baidu tested several of its self-driving vehicles on public roads in Xiongan. Traffic was orderly, and vehicles equipped with Baidu's "Apollo platform" drove safely during a 4 km-long road test. The vehicles were in auto-drive mode, although there were people seated in the vehicles.

Baidu obtained provisional approval from the administrative committee of Xiongan for the tests.