Thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles (AVs) will be deployed on the Uber platform across multiple global markets outside of the USA and China.

Baidu and Uber’s multi-year partnership will focus on increasing the supply of affordable and reliable ridesharing options by bringing Baidu’s autonomous vehicles onto Uber’s network.

The first deployments are expected in Asia and the Middle East later this year. After launch, if a rider requests a qualifying Uber trip, they may be presented with the option to have their trip fulfilled by a fully driverless Apollo Go autonomous vehicle.

Apollo Go (www.apollogo.com) has an operational fleet of more than 1000 fully driverless vehicles globally with its footprint spanning 15 cities, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Backed by its autonomous driving technology and safety record, Apollo Go is gaining momentum and accelerating its global expansion. As of May, the cumulative rides provided to the public by Apollo Go surpassed 11 million.

“We are committed to bringing the benefit of autonomous driving technology to more people in more markets, and this partnership with Uber represents a major milestone in deploying our technology on a global scale,” said Robin Li, CEO of Baidu. “We look forward to working with Uber to deliver safe and efficient autonomous mobility to riders around the world.”

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, added: “This partnership brings together two of the world’s most iconic technology companies to help shape the future of mobility. As the world’s largest platform of its kind, spanning mobility, delivery and freight, Uber is uniquely positioned to help AV leaders like Baidu bring their autonomous technology to the world.”

Founded in 2000, Baidu (www.baidu.com) is a Chinese AI company with strong internet foundations.

Uber (www.uber.com) started in 2010 and has completed more than 61 billion trips.

• Lucid Group (lucidmotors.com), Nuro (www.nuro.ai) and Uber are planning a premium global robotaxi programme on the Uber ride-hailing platform. Expected to launch next year in a major US city, the robotaxi service combines the software-defined vehicle architecture of the Lucid Gravity, the scalability and capability of the Nuro Driver level-four autonomy system, and Uber’s global network and dynamic fleet management, delivering an integrated robotaxi experience developed for comfort, safety and scale.