Baidu might begin testing its Apollo Go robotaxi service in Europe this 12 months

Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxi service is making its debut in Europe later this 12 months, in response to The Wall Street Journal. The Chinese language firm is reportedly negotiating with Switzerland’s PostAuto, a Swiss Submit subsidiary that gives rural bus companies all through the nation, to begin testing Apollo Go in Switzerland. To have the ability to take a look at its expertise in Switzerland earlier than the 12 months ends, Baidu is organising a neighborhood entity within the coming months.

Again in March, the corporate introduced that it was deploying 100 absolutely autonomous vehicles in Dubai, with plans to increase its fleet to 1,000 automobiles within the metropolis by 2028. It is also increasing its trials in Hong Kong and reportedly has plans to check its automobiles in Turkey sooner or later. Baidu launched Apollo Go in all “first-tier” Chinese language cities, together with Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, in 2022. As The Journal notes, Baidu, like its Chinese language rivals, is probably going seeking to increase in Europe as an alternative of the US, as a result of Chinese language corporations might be topic to extra scrutiny within the nation.

One of many corporations Baidu will probably be competing with in Europe is Uber, which signed a deal with Chinese language self-driving startup Momenta earlier this month. Uber and Momenta are launching robotaxi companies within the continent someday in 2026. When Baidu does begin testing its automobiles its Switzerland, they’re going to most certainly have drivers behind the wheel earlier than the corporate progresses to completely driverless trials.

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