Baidu's Apollo Go showcases driverless tech in Dubai

Baidu Inc's autonomous ride-hailing unit Apollo Go has made a splash at the Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport this week, as the Middle Eastern cities accelerate plans for automated mobility.

At the Sept 24–25 event, organized by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority under the theme "Redefining Mobility", Apollo Go is the sole operator authorized to offer robotaxi test rides on public roads.

The company's sixth-generation RT6 vehicles gave guests rides along the Jumeirah Beach Road, winning praise for the smooth handling and features such as intelligent climate control and seat massage.

The RT6 fleet is fully factory-built for autonomous operation and integrates Baidu's Apollo ADFM large model, supported by 10 layers of safety redundancy and six multi-scenario risk-control strategies, said the company.

It added that the vehicles meet international standards while balancing comfort and cost, setting a new benchmark for commercial driverless services.

Apollo Go also unveiled Dubai's first autonomous driving test license—plate number 001—at its booth, symbolizing official backing as the company accelerates deployment in the United Arab Emirates.

Baidu signed a strategic agreement with the RTA in March, received the landmark 001 license and 50 additional test plates in July, and has since built its first large-scale local fleet.

The company plans to deploy more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles in Dubai in the coming years.

"With Dubai's futuristic urban planning and supportive policies, Apollo Go will leverage over a decade of technology accumulation to help the city achieve its 2030 goal of having 25 percent of all trips completed by autonomous vehicles," Zhang Liang, Baidu's general manager for Europe and the Middle East, said at the conference.

The debut marks a critical step in Baidu's overseas expansion. Apollo Go now operates in 16 cities around the world, including Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, having provided more than 14 million driverless rides and logged over 200 million kilometers of safe travel.

Since July, the company has partnered with global platforms such as Uber and Lyft to speed its footprint across the Middle East and Eurasia.