Baidu And Pony.ai Launch 100 Robotaxis In Beijing

Autonomous taxis will soon be operated by Baidu in Beijing. (photo: unsplash)

JAKARTA - Chinese technology conglomerate Baidu Inc and self-driving startup Pony.ai have agreed to launch a driverless robotaxi service. As reported by Reuters, this model of paid transportation service is only available for no more than 100 vehicles in an area in the Chinese capital, Beijing.

The state-backed Beijing Daily newspaper also reported on the approval on Thursday, November 25. Baidu said in a statement that this would be the first commercial deployment of the Apollo Go service on the open road.

Customers will be able to call one of 67 daily service cars at more than 600 pick-up and drop-off points in commercial and residential areas, he said. They will charge rates similar to the level of premium ride-hailing services in China, a Baidu spokesperson said.

Pony.ai, which is backed by Toyota Motor Corp, also confirmed that it had received approval for the Xiaoma Zhixing service from Beijing on its official Weibo account.

Automakers and tech companies are investing billions of dollars in autonomous driving systems, aiming to take an early lead in what many consider the future of mobility.

Baidu in May launched a paid driverless robotaxi service in a much smaller area of 2.7 square kilometers in Beijing's Shougang Park. The company is targeting Apollo Go services to be in 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030, CEO Robin Li said during his latest quarterly results.

Last week, Chinese autonomous vehicle startup AutoX, backed by Alibaba Group, said it had expanded its robotaxi zone in the southern city of Shenzhen and had become the country's largest driverless robotaxi zone, covering 168 sq km.