Baidu launches robotaxi service in all major Chinese cities

Leading Chinese search engine Baidu is launching Apollo Go robotaxi service in major metropolitan areas of the country, including the Nanshan district (Shenzhen) with a population of 13 million people, as well as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The service will initially be available through a special application called Baidu Apollo Go. Overall, by 2025 Baidu intends to cover 65 cities with the service, and by 2030 – about a hundred cities. There is no monopoly in this case, because Baidu has some serious competitors – in particular, Auto X, which offers rides in unmanned cars.

In the U.S., similar services are provided by Waymo One and GM Cruise. However, Baidu is far ahead of them in terms of volume of services. The question is whether the Chinese search engine will be able to maintain its leadership in its new market.