China’s Baidu gets Dubai’s first fully driverless testing permit

Dubai has granted its first permit for the testing of fully driverless vehicles to Apollo Go, Chinese technology company Baidu’s ride‑hailing platform.

The permit, issued by the emirate’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA), allows Apollo Go to operate fully autonomous vehicles on designated public roads without a human safety driver, Baidu said in a statement.

The company aims to launch an autonomous commercial ride-hailing service in Dubai in the first quarter of the year.

In Downtown Dubai, Baidu has opened a centre for autonomous vehicles that integrates intelligent road infrastructure, charging and maintenance facilities, and related technologies. 

The 2,000-square-metre Apollo Go Park is expected to evolve into a central command hub as Apollo Go and the RTA plan to expand the fleet to more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles in the emirate.

Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, CEO of the public transport agency at RTA, said the deployment of Apollo Go’s autonomous vehicles on designated open roads will rigorously test safety, reliability and customer experience, ensuring any future large-scale rollout fully meets Dubai’s standards.

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Yunpeng Wang, corporate vice president of Baidu, said the opening of the first Apollo Go Park outside China will help localise operations.

The RTA and Apollo Go signed an agreement in March 2025 to advance autonomous driving testing and services in Dubai. 

In November, Uber and WeRide announced the commercial operation of fully driverless robotaxis in Abu Dhabi.

WeRide, an autonomous-driving company based in China, has already received a federal-level licence from the UAE government to operate fully driverless robotaxis.