Business | Bump start

China’s robotaxis are racing ahead of Tesla’s

Baidu is leaving Western carmakers in the dust

Baidu's Apollo Go Robotaxi.
Photograph: Getty Images
|Wuhan

If autonomous cars are supposed to make life easy, then Apollo Go, the robotaxi unit of Baidu, a Chinese tech giant, still has work to do. When your correspondent tested its service in the city of Wuhan he had to find his way to a designated pick-up location and end his journey at an approved drop-off spot—more like taking a bus than a cab.

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Bump start”

From the July 27th 2024 edition

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