Uber wants to soon offer robot taxi rides worldwide with Baidu from China

Uber and Chinese technology group Baidu want to work together to offer robot taxi services outside China and the US in the near future. The multi-year strategic partnership agreement that has now been signed will enable thousands of Baidu's autonomous vehicles to be booked via the Uber app in various countries around the world. Users will then be able to choose whether they want to book a human driver or a robot taxi. The partnership will initially be implemented in Asia and the Middle East later this year, but expansion to Europe (and Oceania) is already planned.

The collaboration with Baidu is not the ride-hailing company's first robot taxi partnership. Last year, Uber brought GM subsidiary Cruise's robot taxis onto its platform to offer rides within the US. Cruise competitor Waymo has been offering rides via Uber since 2023 in addition to its app. Uber is also cooperating with Momenta from China on robotaxis and has agreed a partnership with VW for autonomous driving. This will enable Uber customers in the US to book autonomous VW ID.Buzz vehicles in the future.

Robotaxis have long been a passion of Uber

Although Uber is known for providing human drivers, it already had its division for self-driving cars years ago. However, this was sold to Aurora Technologies, a company supported by Amazon, in 2020. At the time, Uber was more concerned with stemming its own heavy losses and becoming profitable. But the company clearly sees a profitable future in robotaxis and is securing the necessary partnerships to achieve this.

For Baidu, the cooperation with Uber is an important step toward bringing “the benefits of autonomous driving technology to more people in more markets,” as Baidu CEO and co-founder Robin Li said in Uber's announcement. According to its figures, Baidu operates over 1,000 driverless vehicles in more than 15 cities, not only in China but also in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The service is called “Apollo Go” and has already completed well over 11 million trips between 2021 and May of this year. It was recently reported that Baidu's robot taxis are coming to Europe, starting in Switzerland. The cooperation with Uber and the use of the corresponding app could increase acceptance.

Uber leaves Tesla out

However, Uber is missing a notable cooperation partner among robot taxi providers: Tesla. But Elon Musk's company has its plans. Tesla recently launched its robot taxi service with restrictions, namely with a few vehicles and accompanying personnel. In May, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described Tesla as a competitor in an interview with The Verge, albeit a smaller one with “less demand.” He also questioned Tesla's camera system for autonomous driving. Khosrowshahi considers lidar sensor technology, which uses laser beams to measure distance and speed, to be superior.

While Uber and Baidu are officially only talking about their robot taxis in Asian and Middle Eastern countries for now, expansion into Europe seems only a matter of time. In May, CNBC reported that Baidu is planning to launch its Apollo Go autonomous driving service not only in Switzerland but also in Turkey. Other countries are likely to follow.

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