Baidu Matches Waymo With 250,000 Weekly Robotaxi Rides

Beijing: China’s tech giant Baidu has announced that its self-driving taxi service Apollo Go is now completing over 250,000 fully driverless rides per week as of October 31. The milestone puts Baidu on the same level as Alphabet’s Waymo, which reported the same volume of weekly paid robotaxi rides in the U.S. earlier this year.

Baidu’s achievement highlights China’s growing competition with the United States in fields such as autonomous vehicles, AI, and electric mobility.

Apollo Go mainly operates in Wuhan, as well as parts of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The service is also expanding to Hong Kong, the UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi), and Switzerland.

The company said it has reached 17 million ride orders so far, with its robotaxis covering 240 million kilometers, including 140 million kilometers fully driverless.

Baidu also reported a strong safety record, saying it has had no major accidents resulting in injury or death, and averages one airbag deployment per 10.1 million kilometers driven.

For the quarter ending June 30, Apollo Go averaged 169,000 rides per week, showing strong growth toward the current 250,000-ride level.

Baidu will release its next earnings report on November 18, and is preparing for its annual tech conference on November 13 in Beijing.

Waymo did not provide updated ride numbers when contacted.