Baidu starts pilot operation of paid autonomous driving mobility service in Hefei

Beijing (Gasgoo)- Baidu announced that its autonomous driving mobility service, Apollo Go, has kicked off commercial pilot operation in Hefei, the capital city of Anhui Province. 

Photo credit: Baidu

According to the tech giant’s plan, it will deploy an autonomous driving fleet of 10 Apollo Moon-installed WM Motor vehicles preliminarily in Hefei, covering core areas such as Baohe District and Binhu District. Users can hail a Robotaxi ride from 9:00 to 17:00 daily at 54 suggested spots in the service area for the work commute, short trips, and shopping needs. 

Users can reserve a vehicle via the Apollo Go mobile application, Baidu Maps application, or through the mini program offered by WeChat. Baidu aims to expand the service route and stations in the future.  

The Apollo Moon-powered WM Motor autonomous vehicle holds 46 safety-guaranteeing technologies and 59 mobility service-dedicated designs. It is installed with a fully redundant sensor design and computing unit, which greatly ensures safety. The four door locks on the vehicle can be independently controlled. It also features intelligent speech and smart car door functions. 

As one of the earliest players in autonomous driving in China, Baidu Apollo has so far accumulated a total test distance of more than 32 million kilometers