by PENG Peng

Baidu's Apollo Go has secured Dubai's first autonomous driving test license, sending the company's Hong Kong-listed shares (9888.HK) up more than 6% intraday before easing to trade 2% higher.

The license, numbered "001," was issued by Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and announced at the city's World Autonomous Driving Transport Conference, where Apollo Go's sixth-generation fleet provided the only on-site rides.

Baidu founder Robin Li signed a deal in March with UAE AI minister Omar Sultan Al Olama to deploy over 1,000 fully driverless cars in Dubai, its first large-scale project outside China. Baidu later partnered with Emirati operator Autogo to expand services to Abu Dhabi.

Apollo Go operates in 16 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with more than 14 million rides and over 200 million km of driverless travel. Since February 2025, all services in China have been fully unmanned.

Baidu has also teamed up with Uber and Lyft to expand in the Middle East, Europe and Asia and is in talks on possible entry into Singapore, where Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat tested a ride earlier this year.

The global robotaxi contest is intensifying. Tesla is testing its Robotaxi service in nearly 10 U.S. cities, while Alphabet's Waymo is expanding road trials. Chinese peers are also stepping up: WeRide and Pony.ai have been building overseas operations for several years, and more recently Hello Inc. and Xpeng have joined the race.

UBS estimates the global robotaxi market outside the U.S. could reach US$394 billion by 2038, with China at US$183 billion. Goldman Sachs forecasts China's market will surge from US$54 million in 2025 to US$47 billion by 2035, with fleets expanding to 2.28 million vehicles.