Baidu, Uber partner on autonomous vehicle deployment

Baidu (BIDU) and Uber Technologies (UBER) announced a multi-year strategic partnership to deploy thousands of Baidu’s Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform across multiple global markets outside of the U.S. and mainland China. This collaboration will focus on increasing the supply of affordable and reliable ridesharing options by bringing Baidu’s advanced autonomous vehicles onto Uber’s extensive network. The first deployments are expected in Asia and the Middle East later this year. After launch, if a rider requests a qualifying Uber trip, they may be presented with the option to have their trip fulfilled by a fully driverless Apollo Go autonomous vehicle.