Chinese technology company Baidu announced Monday that it may sell some rides on unmanned robot taxis.
Baidu
BEIJING is a Chinese technology company Baidu announced on Friday that it can now operate robot taxis in parts of the capital Beijing without staff or drivers.
The move will eliminate the cost of operating driverless taxis — up to the number of cars allowed.
The government approval initially covers 10 vehicles in the Beijing suburb of Yizhuang, home to many corporations such as JD.com.
The suburb is the main test and operation site for Baidu’s robot taxi in the city of Beijing. In November 2021, local authorities allowed Baidu and rival robot taxi operator Pony.ai to charge fares.
Public transport users can book rides in heavily subsidized robotaxi through the companies’ apps.
Baidu shares 12-month results.
Baidu shares briefly soared more than 15% in Hong Kong trading on Friday.
Shares closed at eight-week lows on Thursday after the company unveiled its AI-powered Ernie bot, a Chinese-language competitor to ChatGPT. CEO Robin Lee said the company’s Ernie bot isn’t perfect and stressed the need to improve the product.
