Baidu, K2 launch driverless ride-hailing in Abu Dhabi

Baidu’s Apollo Go and K2’s AutoGo have launched a fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing service in Abu Dhabi, with initial operations covering Yas Island and phased expansion planned for Reem, Al Maryah and Saadiyat Islands. The partners, who announced their collaboration in March 2025 and secured a fully driverless commercial permit in mid-November 2025, are targeting the deployment of hundreds of vehicles across the emirate by 2026.

The service is available to the public via the AutoGo app, allowing users to request rides in vehicles with no human driver. Yas Island has been designated as a permitted zone for fully driverless operations.

In a statement, Liang Zhang, Managing Director of EMEA at Baidu Apollo, said: “Moving from an initial partnership agreement to launching live, fully driverless operations for the public in a span of just a few months is a remarkable milestone.”

Sean Teo, Managing Director of K2, added: “Launching the service at the start of the year reflects our focus on execution and long-term value creation.”

Apollo Go operates across 22 cities globally and has logged more than 240 million autonomous kilometres, of which over 140 million were completed in fully driverless mode. As of October 2025, the service had completed more than 17 million cumulative rides.

Source: PR Newswire