Robotaxis on the roads: China’s Baidu eyes overseas rollout as autonomous driving race heats up
The Chinese tech giant is said to be hoping to test and deploy its robotaxis in places including Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East.
The photo taken on Aug 1, 2024 shows a general view of the driver's seat and controls of a driverless robotaxi autonomous vehicle developed as part of tech giant Baidu's Apollo Go self-driving project, in Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province. (Photo: AFP/Pedro Pardo)
Chinese tech giant Baidu is reportedly planning to launch its robotaxi service outside of China as it looks to make inroads in the autonomous driving global market - a growing industry that other Chinese players as well as Western firms are racing towards.
The Beijing-based company is hoping to test and deploy its Apollo Go robotaxis in places including Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East, according to reports from the likes of Nikkei Asia and the Wall Street Journal that cited people familiar with the matter.
Baidu has been in discussions with companies and regulators in those places, the reports stated.
Apollo Go intends to release a new version of its autonomous-driving platform, Apollo 10.0, that’s “designed for a global audience”, the Wall Street Journal quoted a representative as saying.
Baidu is already operating robotaxi services in multiple cities in China. It provided close to 900,000 rides in the second quarter of the year, up 26 per cent year-on-year, according to its latest earnings call. More than 7 million robotaxi rides in total had been operated as of late July.
Other Chinese operators are also looking to grab a slice of the autonomous driving pie.
Pony.ai and Singapore-based transport operator Comfort DelGro signed a deal in July to explore large-scale commercial robotaxi operations.
“(The collaboration) will extend the benefits of autonomous driving to a wider audience and to more regions, creating value to more people and societies,” said Pony.ai co-founder and CEO James Peng.
Pony.ai has also initiated autonomous driving partnerships in South Korea, Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Among the 20 deals signed at the Singapore-Guangdong Collaboration Council meeting is one on exploring opportunities in driverless taxis. Singapore-based ComfortDelGro has signed a deal with Pony.ai to explore large-scale commercial robotaxi operations in China. There are over 50 Singapore entities in the China-Singapore Guangzhou Knowledge City. In 2023 alone, Knowledge City achieved a 21 per cent GDP growth, reaching about US$4.2 billion. Deborah Wong and the council’s co-chair, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, find out what is drawing Singapore-based companies to invest in the province.
Editor's note: CNA spoke to Alfian Sharifuddin, Head of Tech & Ops (Hong Kong, Mainland China) DBS Bank for this video. He appears at 2'38".
Meanwhile, Chinese autonomous vehicle startup WeRide and ride-hailing giant Uber announced a partnership in September that would bring the Chinese firm’s vehicles to Uber’s platform in the United Arab Emirates, Reuters reported.
In July 2023, WeRide was granted the UAE's first and only national licence for self-driving vehicles, allowing it to test and operate robotaxis on public roads throughout the country.
Western players are accelerating efforts too. Tesla is poised to unveil its much-delayed robotaxi on Thursday (Oct 10), at a film studio in Hollywood.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the so-called Cybercab will be a new model of vehicle that can drive itself and work on a Tesla ride-hailing platform. Observers have said they have low expectations a fully functioning product will be showcased.
Mr Musk said in 2019 he was "very confident" the company would have operational robotaxis by the next year. This year he shelved plans for a new, affordable vehicle in a sharp pivot to robotaxis. Tesla "should be thought of as an AI robotics company", not a carmaker, he said.
CONCERNS OVER DRIVERLESS TAXIS
Even as self-driving technology gains ground, so too have the concerns.
China has begun allowing various levels of testing and road use for self-driving vehicles, a move also made by other countries like Singapore and Japan.
Reuters reported in August that at least 19 Chinese cities are running robotaxi and robobus tests. Seven have approved tests without human-driver monitors by at least five industry leaders: Apollo Go, Pony.ai, WeRide, AutoX and SAIC Motor.
But the rise of robotaxis on Chinese roads has been met with pushback amid safety concerns and worries over the job prospects of China’s 7 million registered ride-hailing drivers.
In July this year, an Apollo Go vehicle hit a pedestrian in Wuhan. Footage of the accident went viral, sparking debate about the issues created by robotaxis, Chinese news outlet Sixth Tone reported.
Wuhan residents also complained that robotaxis caused traffic jams by driving slowly and stopping unexpectedly, according to Sixth Tone.
As robotaxis pick up pace and more passengers, drivers in China have voiced concerns over their livelihoods in an industry that has already seen warnings of oversaturation.
Since April, at least eight cities in China have issued notices to drivers as well as entrepreneurs looking to start online ride-hailing platforms.
Intensifying competition means many drivers are earning less than before, and some are also given a false impression by recruiters of what they can earn, various news outlets have reported.
