Baidu's Apollo Go matches Waymo as Chinese firms make robotaxi push

Baidu’s driverless taxi service has reached a new high point in its operations, with weekly rides now topping 250,000 orders, the company announced through its Apollo Go unit on October 31.

The figure puts the Chinese tech giant on equal footing with Waymo, the self-driving car company backed by Google’s parent Alphabet. Waymo reported similar numbers for its weekly paid rides in the United States back in late April.

When asked for updated figures, Waymo did not provide new numbers. The American company runs its services mainly in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and works with Uber in Austin and Atlanta.

The milestone comes as companies from China and the United States race to dominate cutting-edge technology areas like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, and self-driving cars.

It remains unclear how long Apollo Go has been handling 250,000 rides each week. Earlier this year, during the three months ending June 30, the service averaged roughly 169,000 rides weekly based on the 2.2 million fully driverless trips reported for that period, as per a CNBC report.

Apollo Go runs most of its robotaxi operations in the Chinese city of Wuhan and in sections of Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The company is pushing into new territories, including Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and most recently, Switzerland. Before companies can charge customers for rides, their robotaxis typically must go through rounds of public testing approved by local authorities.

The company shared that it has completed 17 million robotaxi trips to date. Its vehicles have covered 240 million kilometers, which equals about 149 million miles, with 140 million of those rides operating without any driver behind the wheel.

On the safety front, Apollo Go reported that airbags have deployed once for every 10.1 million kilometers driven on average. The company said it has not recorded any serious crashes that caused human injuries or deaths.

Baidu plans to announce its latest quarterly earnings on November 18 before the American stock market opens. The company will also host its yearly technology conference in Beijing on November 13.

Chinese companies expand globally

While American firms led by Waymo have grabbed much of the attention with driverless vehicles operating almost only in the United States, Chinese companies are quietly making major strides. As some American companies begin looking at opportunities overseas, they will face Chinese rivals who have been building their presence abroad.

Baidu’s Apollo Go, along with WeRide and Pony AI, are running more robotaxi projects that have moved from testing phases to actual commercial operations compared to their American competitors, according to research from BloombergNEF.

Most of this progress happens inside China, but these companies are also setting up shop in places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Singapore, with plans to launch services in Germany, the United Kingdom, and other parts of Europe.

Measuring which autonomous vehicle companies are ahead is not simple. The industry has seen many false starts and broken promises. Some companies that looked promising and raised billions of dollars collapsed after crashes or lost support from their financial backers.

However, China’s success in building a powerful battery and electric vehicle industry over many years shows the government’s willingness to invest heavily in industries it considers important. This strong electric vehicle sector could give Chinese autonomous vehicle companies an edge over Waymo and American hopefuls like Tesla and Amazon’s Zoox.

Tech wins out over job concerns

Beijing has made it clear: self-driving cars are a national priority. The government wants China to lead the world in autonomous vehicles by 2035.

Robotaxi testing permits are flowing again, according to sources familiar with the situation. Regulators are trying to keep China from falling behind the U.S. in this race.

For several months last year, authorities hit the brakes. They stopped greenlighting new self-driving cars and blocked companies from expanding into additional cities. The reason? Taxi drivers were worried about losing their livelihoods.

But those concerns have been shelved. Beijing’s focus is now squarely on maintaining China’s competitive edge in what it sees as a critical emerging industry.

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