The Pulse
Baidu Sets Hong Kong’s First Large Public Robotaxi Trial for Oct. 21
Baidu’s Apollo platform will offer free robotaxi rides to more than 1,000 Tung Chung residents from October 21 to November 3. Each car can carry up to two passengers, with a trained backup operator onboard.
AI.info Team · Written with AI ·
More than 1,000 Hong Kong residents are expected to ride Baidu robotaxis during a two-week public trial in Tung Chung, putting the company’s autonomous vehicles in front of local passengers beyond designated test rides. Baidu’s Apollo platform will offer the rides free from October 21 to November 3, according to the South China Morning Post’s October 15 report.
A short route, with no intermediate stops
The route runs from Yat Tung Estate Carpark 1 to the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel, with no stops along the way. Each vehicle can take up to two passengers, but the front passenger seat will remain empty. Riders must be taller than 1.35 metres.
The cars do not have barrier-free features, so the report advises people with limited mobility to take extra care. That restriction narrows who can comfortably use the service, even as the trial invites more than a thousand residents to experience it.
A safety operator stays in the car
The rides will not be fully driverless: each vehicle will have a backup operator. Baidu’s Iris Wong Man-hei, senior project and business development manager for the company’s intelligent driving group, said operators average 10 years of driving experience and have completed at least 100 hours of autonomous-driving training.
“Through the public test rides, we hope to show Tung Chung residents and the wider Hong Kong public the latest achievements of our autonomous driving technology and our high safety standards,”
Iris Wong Man-hei, senior project and business development manager for Baidu’s intelligent driving group, quoted by the South China Morning Post
Operators can pull over and help evacuate passengers in an emergency, Wong told the newspaper. Baidu also monitors the vehicles remotely from a control centre. During a reporter’s test ride on October 15, the onboard operator took control when a large rubbish bag blew toward the car, a reminder that a human remains part of the safety system on these public trips.
Public rides follow years of testing
Hong Kong’s Transport Department issued Baidu a pilot licence for autonomous vehicles in 2024. The company’s testing areas have since expanded beyond Airport Island to North Lantau, Kowloon East and Hong Kong Island South. In July, the department approved driverless tests on Airport Island without an onboard backup operator, a separate arrangement from the supervised public rides in Tung Chung.
The government’s Transport Department said its Autonomous Vehicle Applications Promotion Working Group visited the Tung Chung trial on October 10 and rode in autonomous cars. The department said the vehicles ran steadily and smoothly during that visit, and that officials and the pilot proprietor would brief the Islands District Council’s transport committee on proposed public-experience events on October 13.
Questionnaires will shape the next step
Baidu plans to collect passenger feedback through questionnaires. The trial offers a controlled public test on a defined route, not an open-ended ride-hailing service: passengers share the car with a trained operator, the front seat is unavailable, and accessibility remains limited.
The immediate measure is whether residents take up the free rides and what they report afterward. What changes, if any, will Baidu make in response to that feedback after the trial ends on November 3?