Baidu Apollo and CAR launch autonomous rental car service

China is set to gain its first ever robotaxi-based car rental service. Users of the CAR vehicle rental app will be able to order a robotaxi to their location when making a reservation, and be picked up by an autonomous car automatically.

Beijing-based rental company CAR Inc. has teamed up with Baidu Apollo – the autonomous driving wing of online group Baidu – to deliver short-term rentals of the vehicles. The service will use Baidu Apollo’s Level 4 autonomous driving platform, with the vehicle automatically navigating to and from the pickup / return locations specified by the customer.

How it works is that a customer will use CAR’s app to specify a pickup time and location, then the system will match them with the nearest available robotaxi. This will then arrive at the pickup. While on the journey, users will be able to flexibly alter their route during the rental period, even stopping at different destinations on the fly. When the rental period ends, the vehicle will autonomously navigate to the return location specified by the user. Given their Level 4 automated driving status, the vehicles are reportedly able to drive independently and navigate without a human in the loop – the only catch being that all of this has to take place inside an approved operating area.

In terms of the actual vehicles, the service will use Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis which can carry up to three passengers. Pricing will match the standard prices for short term CAR rentals, with flexible booking ranging from four hours to seven days. There’s also an age restriction in place, as passengers must be over 18 to reserve a robotaxi.

No further details have yet been shared on how many robotaxis will be deployed in total, whether a driving licence will be required for rental, or in which cities the new offer will apply. It’s worth mentioning through that Baidu currently offers an Apollo Go robotaxi service in ten cities across China, with its largest fleet totalling 600 robotaxis operatonal in Wuhan. Whether these will align with CAR’s own rental service remains to be seen.

Baidu has been experimenting with self-driving cars since 2013 and has since developed six generations of robotaxis in China. It also licences the technology to car manufacturers through its Apollo division. In March, the company announced a partnership with CATL to collaborate further on driverless mobility services as well as batteries, battery swap products, and CATL’s skateboard chassis.

carnewschina.com