As Baidu expands its robotaxi operations globally, completely driverless weekly rides have topped 250,000 as of Oct. 31, according to a representative for the company’s driverless car arm Apollo Go.
That is consistent with what Waymo disclosed in late April for its weekly paid U.S. rides. When approached by CNBC, Waymo did not have a new particular statistic to provide. The Alphabet-backed robotaxi service primarily serves San Francisco and Los Angeles in California, as well as Phoenix, Arizona. Waymo has partnered with Uber in Austin and Atlanta.
The expansion of Baidu’s robotaxi capabilities comes as Chinese and American corporations compete for supremacy in advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, electric cars, and self-driving cars.
It was unclear how long Apollo Go had been operating 250,000 rides every week. According to CNBC’s estimations of the 2.2 million fully driverless robotaxi rides announced for the quarter ending June 30, the business averaged approximately 169,000 rides each week.
Baidu’s Apollo Go mostly runs robotaxis in Wuhan and sections of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen on mainland China. The company is also expanding into Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and, more recently, Switzerland. Before municipal regulators authorize businesses to collect tickets, robotaxis must often go through a series of public tests.
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