Baidu is now also allowed to charge a price for transportation with its robot taxis in Wuhan.
Almost at the same time as Pony.ai in Guangzhou, Baidu is allowed to introduce another commercial robotic taxi service: Baidu is launching its autonomous driving service in Wuhan.
Specifically, the service may be operated in the Wuhan Economic & Technological Development Zone (WHDZ). The area is around 30 square kilometers and has 166 kilometers of roads. Within the area there are 63 stops where people can get on or off. The area includes a university, sports and shopping centers.
The service is only allowed during the day: from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Unlike Pony.ai, Baidu does not operate until 10:30 p.m. Baidu ride booking becomes possible through Apollo Go app and Wechat mini-program.
Baidu is already active in Beijing, Chongqing and Yangquan with its robotic taxi service. In the meantime, a total of 27 million autonomous kilometers have been completed. In the first quarter of this year, Baidu’s taxi fleet made 196,000 trips.