Details
- Baidu Inc. announced that its Apollo Go robotaxi service has received Hong Kong Transport Department’s first fully driverless trial permit.
- The trial will begin on July 27 on Airport Island, moving Apollo Go to Level 4 autonomous driving on public roads without an on-board safety operator.
- Baidu states this is the first fully driverless trial in any right-hand-drive market globally, highlighting Hong Kong as an advanced testbed for AV regulation.
- Apollo Go’s Hong Kong operations have expanded over the past 18 months from Airport Island to North Lantau, Kowloon East, and Hong Kong Island South, accumulating more than 240,000 km of safe driving.
- Commissioner for Transport Winnie Tse is quoted calling the approval an important step toward realizing driverless, scaled-up and commercialized autonomous vehicle operations in the city.
- The announcement aligns with Hong Kong’s broader AV framework, which has issued multiple pilot licences and confirmed Level 4 autonomy in ongoing trials.
- Public-road testing without in-vehicle safety drivers will still rely on remote monitoring, fitting within Hong Kong’s evolving AV safety and oversight regime.
- Baidu positions this permit as both a local milestone for autonomous mobility and a strategic foothold in right-hand-drive markets beyond mainland China.
Impact
The permit signals Hong Kong’s readiness to move from supervised AV pilots to fully driverless operations under its new regulatory regime, giving Baidu a high-profile showcase in a complex, right-hand-drive urban environment. This strengthens Baidu’s global autonomous driving credentials and could pressure rivals to seek similar approvals in other jurisdictions, while offering regulators a live test case for scaling Level 4 robotaxis.
