“Uber and Baidu are teaming up to bring autonomous taxis to the world. Baidu’s robotaxis, which have already logged more than 11 million rides in China, will start appearing on Uber’s app later this year across Asia and the Middle East,” reports The Doomslayer.
CNBC reports:
Baidu has struck a partnership with Uber to deploy its autonomous cars on the ride-hailing giant’s platform outside the U.S. and mainland China.
The first deployments are expected to happen in Asia and the Middle East later this year. The two companies said the multi-year partnership will see ‘thousands’ of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on Uber globally.
Baidu shares jumped 4.5% in premarket trade in the U.S. following the news, while Uber stock was more than 1% higher.
For Baidu, the move will help to internationalize its driverless car business outside of China. Uber will meanwhile gain a proven partner to take on autonomous driving rivals around the world.
After the launch, a rider requesting a trip on Uber may be given the option to hail a driverless Apollo Go car, the two companies said.
In China, Baidu has been operating its own robotaxi service since 2021 in major cities like Beijing, letting users hail an Apollo Go car through the app.
Amazon is planning to produce up to 10,000 robotaxis per year in a California plant.
Self-driving cars are generally safer than human-driven cars.
Waymo self-driving taxis now transport thousands of passengers every day in American cities. Robotaxis aren’t the only robots are making life better.
Robots are also saving lives by doing difficult and dangerous tasks. German robots hunted the North Sea for tens of thousands of unexploded World War II bombs.
Scientists have developed tiny robots made of human cells to repair damaged cells. Nanorobots are also being used to fight cancer. “In a major advancement in nanomedicine, Arizona State University scientists…have successfully programmed nanorobots to shrink tumors by cutting off their blood supply.”
Robots with artificial intelligence have been spreading on Japanese farms. In the U.S., farming robots now use artificial intelligence to kill 100,000 weeds per hour. Drones with artificial intelligence will make farming easier.
