On February 11, the World Governments Summit 2025 kicked off in Dubai. Baidu founder Robin Li had an in-depth conversation with Omar Sultan AI Olama, the UAE's Minister of Artificial Intelligence.
Li pointed out that the core of innovation is to reduce costs and improve productivity. In cutting-edge fields such as AI and IT, most innovations are closely related to cost control. This also applies to autonomous driving. Li stated that in the field of autonomous driving, reducing costs is key to achieving successful technology implementation.
Minister Olama expressed great anticipation for Baidu's autonomous driving business, stating, "I look forward to seeing all fleets at next year's conference supported by Apollo Go's autonomous driving technology."
According to The Wall Street Journal, Baidu's autonomous ride-hailing service platform, Apollo Go, plans to commence road tests in Dubai in the first half of this year. Simultaneously, the company is actively strengthening its business teams in major Middle Eastern cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh, as well as in Southeast Asian countries, to build a talent pool for its overseas business expansion.
Up to now, the accumulated mileage of Apollo Go has exceeded 130 million kilometers, and the actual risk rate is only 1/14 of that of human drivers, which undoubtedly provides strong evidence for the safety of autonomous driving technology.