Baidu’s Robotaxi Rides Hit 250,000 Weekly, Matching Waymo’s U.S. Numbers as Global Expansion Accelerates
Beijing — China’s tech giant Baidu has achieved a major milestone in autonomous mobility, with its driverless car unit Apollo Go surpassing 250,000 fully autonomous rides per week as of October 31, a company spokesperson confirmed.
This puts Baidu’s robotaxi operations on par with U.S. competitor Waymo, which reported similar weekly ride figures earlier this year. Waymo, backed by Alphabet, operates primarily in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, while also partnering with Uber in Austin and Atlanta.
Baidu’s rapid growth highlights the intensifying race between China and the U.S. for dominance in artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and next-generation mobility technologies.
While Baidu hasn’t disclosed how long it has maintained this ride volume, earlier data showed the company averaged around 169,000 weekly rides in Q2 2025, based on 2.2 million fully driverless rides reported for that quarter.
Apollo Go’s main operations are centered in Wuhan, along with selected areas in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. The company is also pursuing international expansion, with robotaxi testing and launches underway in Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Switzerland — regions where regulatory approval often follows extensive pilot programs.
To date, Apollo Go has completed over 17 million ride orders and logged 240 million kilometers (149 million miles) of autonomous driving, including 140 million kilometers without a human driver.
In terms of safety, Baidu noted that one airbag deployment occurs approximately every 10.1 million kilometers, and so far, no major injuries or fatalities have been reported.
The company is scheduled to release its quarterly results on November 18 and will host its annual technology conference in Beijing on November 13, where updates on its AI and autonomous driving initiatives are expected.
Weekly ride statistics from Chinese rivals Pony.ai and WeRide have not yet been disclosed, while Waymo has not provided an updated ride count since April.
