《Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily》November 25th News (Reporter Huang Xinyi) According to Hong Kong media TVB Wireless News, Baidu's self-driving online car-hailing platform 'Luobo Kuai Pao' plans to conduct trial operations in Hong Kong, with the first phase of testing to be carried out at the airport by the end of this year at the earliest.

The Transport Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has confirmed that Baidu submitted an application for a pilot license for autonomous driving testing and a vehicle certificate last month. The application is still under review. The department will strictly control and orderly promote autonomous vehicles testing in Hong Kong. According to documents from the Hong Kong Islands District Council, the first phase of testing will be carried out before the end of the year, initially during non-busy hours. There will be a local driver with over ten years of driving experience as a backup operator in the driver's seat to monitor the driving situation of the autonomous vehicle throughout the journey and take over immediately when necessary.

In early October, a reporter from the 'Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily' was exclusively informed by insiders that 'Luobo Kuai Pao' plans to launch unmanned taxi services in Hong Kong, marking its first business landing outside the mainland market.

Baidu's latest financial report shows that in the third quarter of 2024, the automatic driving orders of Luobo Kuai Pao were 0.988 million units, a 20% year-on-year increase; as of October 28th, Baidu has provided over 8 million rides nationwide with its automatic driving travel services.

The financial report also shows that in the third quarter of 2024, Luobo Kuai Pao's full unmanned driving volume accounted for over 70% of the total national volume. In October 2024, the proportion of full unmanned driving orders further increased to 80%.

Currently, the sixth generation unmanned vehicle has been providing services on public roads in multiple cities in China. Baidu's founder, director, and CEO Robin Li mentioned at the 2024 China 5G+ Industrial Internet Conference that Baidu's sixth generation unmanned vehicle RT6 is the world's only mass-produced L4 level unmanned vehicle, with costs reduced to 0.25 million yuan per unit.

Baidu has launched full unmanned automatic driving travel services and testing in Wuhan, Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. During the earnings conference, Robin Li emphasized the continued exploration in Wuhan and Chongqing, mainly adopting a light asset strategy to make operations more flexible and efficient.

On June 19th of this year, Luobo Kuai Pao began offering 100% fully self-driving car-hailing services in almost the entire city of Wuhan, with the expectation of achieving a balance of income and expenditure in Wuhan by the end of 2024 and entering a full profit period in 2025.

On October 31st, Luobo Kuai Pao officially established a new company in Chongqing—Luobo Yunli (Chongqing) Technology Co., Ltd., with Bi Ran as the legal representative, a registered capital of 5 million RMB, fully owned by Luobo Yunli (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd., which is held 50% by Li Zhenyu, senior vice president of Baidu, and 50% by Shang Guobin, vice president of Baidu.

The day before, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology, the Municipal Public Security Bureau, and the Municipal Urban Management Bureau jointly issued a notice on the designated opening and intelligent connected vehicle access and trial operation pilot segments, effective immediately. Chongqing will open 17 road sections as pilot segments for intelligent connected vehicle access and trial operation.

Previously, Luobo Kuai Pao had landed in Yongchuan District of Chongqing to provide self-driving travel services to the public. With the advancement of policies, it may further expand its operational scope.