Baidu has extended its Apollo Go Robotaxi service to the downtown of Cangzhou, Hebei province. The is the first time that the service will be available in the heart of a city in China, marking a new era is the development of autonomous driving technology.
With Apollo Go, Cangzhou’s 1.2 million residents can hail a robotaxi ride from 55 pick-up and drop-off stations, including train stations, schools, hotels, museums, business and industrial areas, and other public spaces.
In April, Baidu availed robotaxi services in a 130-square kilometre region of Changsha, Hunan province. By servicing busy areas of Cangzhou, Apollo Go is making autonomous driving technology more accessible to residents as they go about their daily lives.
People in Cangzhou can hail a free robotaxi ride through a single click on Baidu Maps. Visitors can book a ride after getting off the train to take them to their hotels.
Safety remains a top priority so a human operator is assigned to each vehicle to take control of the autonomous system as a backup.
In addition to the operations in Changsha and Cangzhou, Apollo continues to conduct manned autonomous driving tests in Beijing, Chongqing and other cities.
The Apollo fleet includes around 500 autonomous driving vehicles that have covered over six million kilometres and carried more than 100,000 passengers.
Apollo now holds more than 150 autonomous driving road test licenses and more than 1,800 intelligent driving patents globally.
Entelechy Asia 