Baidu permitted to charge fares for Robotaxi in Wuhan

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Baidu Apollo’s Robotaxi platform Apollo Go started pilot commercial operation in Wuhan, providing paid autonomous mobility service to the public.

Photo credit: Baidu

The pilot service is available in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ). The Robotaxi fleet will serve passengers in the 30 square kilometers area in the WHDZ on 166 km of roads. There are 63 pick-up/drop-off stations in the area, covering university campuses, sport centers, and commercial plazas. Passengers in the area are able to hail a Robotaxi ride via the Apollo Go mobile application and Wechat mini program through 8:00 to 17:00 daily.

Notably, Wuhan is the fourth city that has granted Baidu the permission to operate commercial service after Beijing, Chongqing, and Yangquan.

Up to now, Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving arm has accumulated over 27 million kilometers of safe testing distance. As the largest Robotaxi service provider in the world, Baidu’s Apollo Go service has reached Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and many other cities.

In the first quarter of this year, its autonomous taxi fleet has fulfilled 196,000 orders.