Baidu Eyes Australia, Southeast Asia for Next Robotaxi Expansion

(Bloomberg) — Baidu Inc. is exploring new markets including Australia for its robotaxis as its expanding fleet hits operational profitability targets in several cities across China.

Apollo Go, part of the Chinese search giant’s intelligent driving group, is in talks with governments in Australia and parts of Southeast Asia to explore bringing autonomous vehicles to those markets, Halton Niu, general manager for the division’s overseas business, said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

Apollo Go received 50 autonomous driving trial licenses from authorities in Dubai earlier this week, allowing it to double its fleet size in the United Arab Emirates to around 100 cars.

“For the Middle East and Europe, we’re talking with different local governments. As of today, we’re only deploying in several cities there,” Niu said. “Beyond that, we’re talking with governments in Southeast Asia and also Australia.”

Chinese self-driving firms are aggressively expanding abroad, particularly in places where governments are embracing future-facing technologies. The lower cost of their vehicles, which benefit from an advanced electric vehicle supply chain in China, has given them an edge over American rivals such as Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo.

The improving economics of Apollo Go’s China operations is underpinning the business case for mass robotaxi roll-outs, Niu said. With operations at scale and the ability to remove human drivers, some cities where Apollo Go is operating have broken even on a per vehicle basis, and not just in Wuhan, where the division has its largest fleet.

“Each vehicle can be profitable today. Each single unit can be profitable, in several cities in mainland China,” Niu said. However he added that Apollo Go achieving profitability as an entire division is still some time away.

Since 2013, Baidu has invested billions of dollars into developing self-driving technology. The company has deployed more than 1,000 cars to cities in China and overseas. It recently inked a deal with US ride-hailing platform Lyft Inc. to enter into Europe, starting with the UK and Germany next year, pending regulatory approvals.

Niu said authorities in Europe may have reservations at first, such as around where the data collected will be stored. It’s going to be kept locally, he said, and Apollo Go has registered an entity in Switzerland where it’s hiring local employees.

Once officials come to China to “see what happens in one single city, some of the misunderstanding may disappear.”

On a visit to China in June, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde visited Apollo Go’s campus in Beijing and rode a robotaxi there.

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