Baidu and Uber Technologies will roll out the Apollo Go autonomous ride-hailing service in Dubai as early as next month, as part of their partnership with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

Under the initiative, fully autonomous vehicles will be bookable through the Uber app across select locations in the Jumeirah area, with plans to gradually expand the service citywide subject to regulatory approvals and operational performance.

The Dubai launch represents a significant milestone in the emirate’s smart mobility roadmap and aligns with the government’s target of making 25% of all transportation trips autonomous by 2030.

For trips within the service area, passengers will have the opportunity to be matched with an Apollo Go vehicle when booking an Uber Comfort or UberX, or by selecting the “Autonomous” option in the Uber app. Fleet management will be handled by third-party operator New Horizon.

“Bringing Apollo Go to Dubai via the Uber platform marks a pivotal step in our mission to provide safe, efficient, and accessible autonomous mobility worldwide,” said Nan Yang, Vice President of Baidu and General Manager of Overseas Business Unit, Intelligent Driving Group. “As a key deliverable of the strategic partnership between Apollo Go and Uber announced last July, this deployment officially brings our autonomous ride-hailing service to Dubai, utilizing Uber’s vast network to turn our shared vision into reality.”

“We’re excited to partner with Baidu as we continue to grow our autonomous footprint across Dubai. Just as we helped millions of people try out EVs for the first time, we will expand consumer access to autonomous technology in major cities around the world,” said Sarfraz Maredia, Global Head of Autonomous at Uber. “With more than 20 AV partners already completing millions of autonomous trips annually, Uber is the global platform where the autonomous vehicle industry can launch at scale.”

This announcement comes on the heels of another market expansion last December, when the parties announced plans to bring the autonomous ride-hailing service to London, a right-hand drive market, as well as the inauguration of Apollo Go Park in Dubai in January, its first overseas operations and management hub.

As a leading autonomous ride-hailing service provider globally, Apollo Go has logged more than 240 million autonomous kilometres, of which over 140 million kilometres were completed in fully driverless mode. With a global footprint across 22 cities, Apollo Go's weekly ride count has recently surpassed 250,000, and the service has completed more than 17 million cumulative rides as of October 31, 2025. -TradeArabia News Service