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Baidu is in discussions to launch robotaxi tests in Europe as Chinese technology groups look to dominate the global market for autonomous driving.
The Beijing-based group, often viewed as China’s rival to Google, aims to partner with the national postal service of Switzerland, and is also planning on launching in Turkey, according to people familiar with the matter.
The tech giant’s self-driving arm, Apollo Go, was seeking to test its robotaxis and set up an office in Switzerland by the end of the year, said the people, citing the local government’s “open attitude” towards innovative mobility technology.
Swiss Post said there was no partnership or co-operation with Baidu or any other technology provider, but was thinking about the future of its mobility and new customer requirements.
Robin Li, Baidu’s co-founder and chief executive, has told investors that 2025 would be “a paramount year” for expansion, adding that the company had identified potential partners across taxi companies and fleet operators, in an “asset-light” expansion approach, according to company statements.
Baidu operates in more than 10 cities across China and runs a small-scale trial in Hong Kong. Its overseas expansion plan for its self-driving fleet follows similar moves by a cohort of Chinese peers. Earlier this year, Guangzhou-based WeRide launched trials of its robobuses in Valence, France, and at Zurich airport, while Pony.ai announced it had won a testing permit for its robotaxis in Luxembourg.
Uber earlier this year inked deals with three Chinese self-driving companies — WeRide, Pony.ai and Momenta — to deploy their robotaxis into the US ride-hailing company’s fleets across global markets such as Europe and the Middle East.
The race to develop autonomous vehicles has emerged as a new battleground between China and the west, which is already lagging behind in the development of electric vehicles.
The rise of increasingly high-tech Chinese-made cars has also sparked security concerns in Washington.
Last year, the Biden administration moved to ban Chinese connected-car software, citing national security worries that the cars could spy on drivers. And Hesai, China’s biggest maker of lidar sensors, which are commonly used by robotaxis, has been placed on a Pentagon blacklist for companies affiliated with the Chinese military. Hesai denies any such connections.
According to China’s Ministry of Public Security, pilot zones for autonomous driving have been approved on 32,000 kilometres of roads in about 20 Chinese cities, including large-scale robotaxi tests in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing and Wuhan.
This week, a Pony.ai robotaxi caught fire in Beijing, the first incident of its kind, sparking discussion over safety of the technology on social media.
“No collision occurred and no one was injured,” the company said in a statement. “The specific cause is currently under investigation.”
Despite industry fears over safety and insurance regulations, Goldman Sachs analysts this month forecast that by 2030 more than half a million robotaxis would be operating across major Chinese cities.
The penetration of robotaxis compared with the existing global ride-hailing fleet is expected to surge from less than 1 per cent in 2025 to 9 per cent by 2030, driving the value of the market to $47bn annually from just $54mn today.
Goldman analysts noted that the existing leaders in the driverless car sector, including Baidu, WeRide and Pony.ai, had an advantage given the “high technological entry barrier” to other companies, and their edge in developing the algorithms and accumulating necessary data for mass rollouts.
Baidu, which is China’s biggest robotaxi operator, said this year that its Apollo Go vehicles provided 1.1mn rides to the public in the fourth quarter of last year, up 36 per cent year on year, and taking its cumulative rides to more than 9mn in January.
Details of the company’s expansion into Europe were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Baidu did not immediately comment.
