Baidu

Baidu Research established autonomous vehicle program led by Andrew Ng. First Chinese internet company to build a self-driving R&D team — anchored in Beijing's Institute of Deep Learning before evolving into Apollo platform 4 years later.

Baidu announced 'Apollo Plan' at Shanghai Auto Show — open-source autonomous driving platform for OEM and developer ecosystem. First Chinese internet company to publicly target Tesla/Waymo with a full-stack AV strategy.

Apollo 2.5 launched at CES — first open-source AV stack with limited-scenario L4 capability. Baidu reported 100+ partners had downloaded the codebase; established Apollo as the China AV ecosystem default.

Apolong autonomous bus mass production with King Long — first L4 commercial AV manufactured in China. ~100 units deployed in tourism/airport shuttle routes.

Apollo Go opened first paid robotaxi rides at Beijing's Shougang Park (former Olympic venue) — fixed routes with safety drivers. Became China's first ride-hailable robotaxi service inside city limits.

First fully driverless commercial robotaxi service in Wuhan and Chongqing — Apollo Go achieved no-safety-driver paid rides in two Chinese cities for the first time. Beat Cruise's SF launch by 6 months.

First driverless airport transportation in Wuhan — China's first AV airport-to-city service. Wuhan Tianhe Airport became Apollo Go's strategic showcase route.

Beijing Daxing Airport Expressway approved for AV passenger demo — first capital-city AV airport link. Symbolic regulatory milestone; full commercial rollout followed within months.

Wuhan fleet exceeded 400 driverless vehicles covering 3,000 sq km — became world's largest contiguous robotaxi service area. 6th-gen Apollo Go robotaxi (Yidu) entered production with 60% lower BOM.

Apollo Go expanded to Dubai and Abu Dhabi — first international deployment, partnered with Dubai RTA + Abu Dhabi Department of Transportation. ~100 vehicles deployed initially.

Lyft partnership announced — 500+ Apollo Go vehicles to deploy in Germany and UK in 2026 via Lyft EU acquisition (FreeNow). First Chinese AV deployment in major Western markets.