The collaboration is part of Baidu's ambitious Apollo Plan, which seeks to devise, build, test and eventually distribute self-driving systems with level 3, 4 and 5 autonomy. So far the company has assembled a coalition of more than 133 automakers and OEMs.

Unity's real-time simulation will enable developers to effectively digitize the development phase of these autonomous technologies, which leads to a number of advantages, Tim McDonough, Unity's head of Automotive, explained to Engadget on a recent call.

"Nobody gets hurt in a video game," he explained. "You can also test things that you can't test in the real world. What happens if a kid runs up in front of the car, or a moose, those are things you just you just can't test in the real world. But you can test infinite levels of detail in a simulation engine."