Uber rolls out Baidu’s self-driving taxis for ride hailing in Dubai

Feb 10 (Reuters) – Uber and Baidu said on Tuesday they would launch autonomous ride-hailing services in Dubai in the coming month, the latest step in the Chinese tech firm’s push toward global expansion.

The fully autonomous vehicles will be available on the Uber app across select locations within the Jumeirah area, the companies said, adding they would expand further based on operational progress and regulatory approvals across the city.

The move builds on the companies’ partnership, announced last year, aimed at deploying thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform across several international markets outside the U.S. and mainland China.

It is also a step forward in Uber’s ambitions to compete in the robotaxi market as tech companies race to boost commercial adoption of autonomous vehicles.

Baidu, which has been running its Apollo Go robotaxi services commercially in several Chinese cities since 2022 and now has a global footprint of 22 cities, said the service has completed more than 17 million rides as of October.

The company also has a tie-up with Lyft to deploy robotaxis across Europe. In December, Baidu teamed up with Uber and Lyft to launch trials for its driverless taxi services in the UK this year.

Baidu said on Tuesday passengers will have the option to be matched with an Apollo Go vehicle when booking an Uber Comfort or UberX taxi, or by selecting the “Autonomous” option in the Uber app.

(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)