Hong Kong Transport Department Approves Baidu's Apollo Go for Driverless Testing on Airport Island from July

On July 23, 2026, the Hong Kong Transport Department updated its autonomous vehicle pilot license, approving Baidu's Apollo Go to conduct driverless testing on Airport Island. The test vehicles will no longer have backup operators on board, instead being monitored remotely from a control center, with testing starting on July 27. The license is an unmanned testing permit and does not authorize commercial operations across Hong Kong.

Apollo Go entered Hong Kong in November 2024, when it obtained the city's first autonomous vehicle pilot license, and subsequently began road testing on Airport Island. In February 2026, the Transport Department approved the project to add remote control center operators to work alongside onboard backup operators. After months of testing, report reviews, and multiple on-site inspections, the department confirmed that the vehicles met requirements for safety, stability, accuracy, and smooth operation, with no abnormal incidents, and finally approved the Airport Island project to enter the driverless testing phase.

According to Baidu's Q1 2026 earnings report, Apollo Go provided 3.2 million fully driverless rides in the quarter, up 120% year-on-year; weekly order volume peaked at over 350,000 in March. As of April 2026, cumulative rides provided to the public exceeded 22 million. As of May 2026, Apollo Go had entered 27 cities globally, with cumulative autonomous driving mileage exceeding 330 million km, of which fully driverless mileage exceeded 220 million km.

Baidu's total revenue in Q1 2026 was RMB 32.1 billion. Among this, Baidu's core AI business revenue reached RMB 13.6 billion, up 49% year-on-year, accounting for more than half of general business revenue for the first time. AI cloud infrastructure revenue was RMB 8.8 billion, up 79% year-on-year, and GPU cloud revenue grew 184% year-on-year. Traditional online marketing services revenue declined 22% year-on-year.

In the Robotaxi sector, Waymo expanded driverless services in multiple US cities. Pony. ai disclosed that its Q1 2026 Robotaxi revenue grew 395.4% year-on-year, and raised its year-end fleet target to over 3,500 vehicles. WeRide has deployed vehicles in China, the Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia, entering multiple global markets. Baidu is cooperating with ride-hailing platforms such as Uber and Lyft, providing vehicles and autonomous driving systems, while local platforms handle user traffic, payments, and operations.