Baidu is in advanced discussions to bring its autonomous taxi trials to Europe, targeting Switzerland’s postal operator and Turkish transport authorities as potential collaborators. Sources familiar with the talks say the Chinese tech giant hopes to establish a local office in Switzerland by year’s end, taking advantage of what it views as a receptive regulatory environment for cutting-edge mobility solutions.
The company’s self-driving division, Apollo Go, already serves more than ten Chinese cities and runs a limited pilot in Hong Kong. Under Baidu’s “asset-light” strategy, it plans to partner with existing taxi firms and fleet managers abroad, supplying software, sensors and remote operations support rather than deploying its own vehicles.
Robin Li, Baidu’s co-founder and CEO, has championed 2025 as a pivotal year for international growth. He has told investors that the firm has identified prospective alliances across the global taxi sector and sees Europe as a key target market especially in nations seeking to decarbonize transport and reduce urban congestion.
China’s autonomous-vehicle startups have begun making similar inroads. WeRide, based in Guangzhou, has rolled out robo-bus tests in France and at Zurich Airport, while Pony.ai secured Luxembourg’s first robotaxi permit earlier this year. Meanwhile, Uber has struck deals with several Chinese developers including WeRide, Pony.ai and Momenta to integrate their driverless cars into its fleets across Europe and the Middle East.
Despite rising geopolitical tensions such as U.S. restrictions on Chinese connected-car software and the Pentagon’s blacklist of lidar-maker Hesai Baidu maintains that safety and data security are paramount. The firm points to its record of more than nine million cumulative public robotaxi rides in China and a year-on-year 36 percent increase in Q4 usage as proof of its technical maturity.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict rapid adoption of robotaxis, forecasting a jump from under 1 percent of global ride-hailing trips today to roughly 9 percent by 2030 lifting the annual market value from $54 million to $47 billion. With its deep AI expertise and vast driving-data repository, Baidu believes it is well positioned to compete with Western incumbents as cities worldwide embrace autonomous mobility.
