Apollo Go Robotaxis Launch In Hong Kong – CleanTechnica

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I wrote earlier this year that Baidu’s Apollo Go is likely to be the first profitable robotaxi service in the world. The service continues to expand in the meantime, or in its march toward profitability. Now, news is that Apollo Go robotaxi testing will begin in Hong Kong, near the airport, later this year.

Apollo Go is already operating in more than 10 Chinese cities. One key to profitability is scaling up commercial use in order to spread out the costs of the system and R&D. The more cities Baidu can expand into, the better.

To start off in Hong Kong, safety drivers who have at least 10 years of driving experience will be in the cars, and the cars will be operating during off-peak driving hours. Since June 19, Apollo Go has been offering fully driverless robotaxi service in Wuhan, so one would expect the company to get to that stage quickly in Hong Kong.

Following Google (now Waymo), Baidu was one of the first companies to jump into the self-driving vehicle adventure — way back in 2013. It has been trudging along a bit like Waymo in trying to master the process and bring down the costs.

“On May 15 this year, Baidu unveiled its sixth-generation robotaxi, costing 200,000 yuan ($27,600), a 60 percent drop from the previous model,” CnEVPost writes. That’s a stunning drop in costs, and is key to reaching profitability. “These vehicles would join the robotaxi fleet on Apollo Go, which by the end of 2024 planned to deploy 1,000 sixth-generation robotaxis in Wuhan, Hubei province, Baidu said in May.”

Apollo Go is currently providing about 1 million robotaxi rides per quarter. It has performed over 8 million across its entire life. Clearly, it is beginning to scale up at a rapid pace. I expect 2025 to be a big year for robotaxis, probably led by Baidu and its Apollo Go service, but Waymo is progression quickly as well.