On June 17, Baidu and BAIC Group’s high-end EV brand ARCFOX announced the launch of their next-generation electric robotaxis, Apollo Moon with a rollout of 1,000 planned for the next three years.

Apollo Moon has a projected service life of five years and a range of 635 km. The taxis will cost 480,000 yuan (US$74,300), one-third of the cost of a typical L4 vehicle, according to Wang Yunpeng, general manager of Baidu’s autonomous driving unit.

Baidu has been working on self-driving vehicles since 2013 and plans to have its technology in more than a million vehicles within five years. Besides the 1,000 robotaxis, Baidu is aiming for large-scale commercialization of autonomous ride-hailing.