Chinese search engine giant Baidu has made major progress in its years-long push to develop robotaxis, with the announcement on Tuesday that it is set to deploy “thousands” of autonomous vehicles on Uber’s ride-hailing service across multiple markets outside mainland China and the US. Meanwhile, China’s largest rental car platform, CAR Inc., is adding some of Baidu’s robotaxis to its fleets, allowing customers to rent a fully driverless car at an extremely low price in a major Chinese city.
Uber tie-up: “This partnership brings together two of the world’s most iconic technology companies to help shape the future of mobility,” said Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber, in a statement. Baidu CEO Robin Li said the multi-year deal represents “a major milestone” in deploying Baidu’s technology on a global scale.
- “We view partnership with Uber as a positive, demonstrating Baidu’s leading position in autonomous technology,” Jefferies analyst Thomas Chong wrote in a note dated July 15, adding that the company’s pursuit of different models, such as partnerships, enable it to scale quickly.
- The first deployment is expected to take place in Asia and the Middle East later this year, the companies said. Baidu operates more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles across 15 cities worldwide, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and has completed more than 11 million rides as of May, primarily through its Apollo Go app.
- Before the partnership with Baidu, Uber had worked with three self-driving car companies with Chinese backgrounds, namely US-listed WeRide and Pony.ai, as well as General Motors-backed Momenta. WeRide’s robotaxis are already available in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and Pony.ai is also eyeingMiddle Eastern expansion.
Driverless car rental: Baidu has taken a step further on its home turf, as its fully autonomous car rental service, co-launched with CAR Inc. earlier this month in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, experiences strong demand partly because of heavy discounts.
- “All the time slots and vehicles within the next seven days have already been booked out, and we will add some vehicles in a timely manner based on customer demand,” a customer service representative from CAR Inc. told TechNode on Thursday (our translation).
- The companies said earlier this week that it only costs RMB 88 ($12.3), discounted from the original price of RMB 588, per day for any legal citizens aged 18 and above to rent a spacious and fully autonomous crossover for a ride throughout most of Wuhan.
- The service can be used by passengers aged up to 70, individuals without driving licenses, international visitors, and disabled people, and users are allowed to rent a car for up to seven days. However, the Baidu RT6 sports utility vehicles that the service uses are only available at select pickup and drop-off locations in the city.
- The companies also insist the service is tightly geofenced, though the total serviceable area for robotaxis within Wuhan has been expanded to more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles), according to the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Commerce (in Chinese).
- The 4.8-meter-long, four-seater RT6 SUV is the sixth generation of Baidu’s robotaxi, manufactured by Chinese automaker JAC at a cost of around RMB 250,000 ($34,825). The car’s seats can be heated and have massage options, while the vehicles are equipped with a refrigerator, the companies said.
READ MORE: Baidu shares surge on growth prospects of robotaxi business
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