Baidu to reportedly trial Apollo Go Robotaxis in Hong Kong before year's end

Apollo Go, tech company Baidu's autonomous robotaxi service, will reportedly expand its trial services to Hong Kong before the end of 2024. Hong Kong marks the next city in mainland China where Baidu's robotaxis may be operational as the company continues to grow as the leader in autonomous public rides in the country.

Baidu is known as China's Google. Both started as search engines and expanded to robotaxis.

Baidu may have started in China as a search engine giant but has since made a name for itself in electric mobility after turning its focus toward EVs, AI, and autonomous driving technologies. For example, Baidu's Apollo ecosystem has garnered over a hundred partnerships with manufacturers and suppliers, including Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen.

Additionally, the Apollo software platform is the core of Baidu's own robotaxi fleet in China. That technology is present in the company's bespoke robotaxi, the RT6 , which is capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, complete with a detachable steering wheel.

While Baidu is working toward getting the RT6 certified in China, its Apollo Go service continues to progress tremendously and has already completed over 8 million driverless rides in China. As such, Baidu continues to expand the footprint of its Apollo Go Robotaxis in China.

We saw those autonomous rides receive operational permits in Chinese cities like Wuhan and Chongqing before expanding to Beijing in Mar 2023. Now, reports out of China state that Baidu is expanding robotaxis to Hong Kong, a dense metropolitan area home to over 7.5 million residents.

Several reports out of China, including outlet CnEVPost, state that Baidu is gearing up to begin trial operations of its Apollo Go robotaxis in Hong Kong. In Oct, Baidu applied for a self-driving trial license and an autonomous vehicle certificate, which the Hong Kong Transport Department is still reviewing for approval.

The report states that Baidu plans to operate the first phase of its robotaxi trial at the airport in Hong Kong, beginning by the end of the year at the earliest. Government documents in China state the initial phase of testing the robotaxis would require testing during off-peak hours and require a local driver with more than 10 years of experience present in the vehicle as a backup operator.

The RT6 vehicles mentioned above could soon join the Apollo Go robotaxi fleet, as Baidu has previously shared plans to deploy 1,000 of them in Wuhan by the end of 2024.

Baidu to reportedly expand Apollo Go Robotaxis to Hong Kong before year's end