Baidu offers autonomous vehicle service in Guangzhou

Chinese tech company Baidu has introduced a fleet of around 40 autonomous vehicles, including taxis and buses, to Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, for commercial trial operation.

The company said up to five types of vehicles will be available as a service platform Baidu has launched with the city's Huangpu district.

Besides taxis and buses, there are also patrol vehicles and road sweepers in the autonomous vehicle fleet.

The platform is the world's first to allow people to hail different types of autonomous vehicles. People can make reservations on their smart phone via the Baidu Maps and Apollo Go applications. Over 50 pickup points have been set up in the district.

Baidu said it will gradually increase the number of vehicles to over 100 and establish almost 1,000 pickup stations in the district.

Before Guangzhou, Baidu has launched robotaxi programs in cities including Beijing, Changsha in Hunan province and Cangzhou in Hebei province.

Baidu launched its autonomous driving program Apollo in 2017, which has attracted partners including Daimler and Ford.