Baidu expands robotaxi push to Switzerland in PostBus deal

BEIJING (Reuters) -Baidu announced a partnership with Switzerland's PostBus on Wednesday to launch its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle service in the European country, as the Chinese tech firm accelerates a global push of its self-driving business.

The partnership comes after Baidu partnered with Lyft in August to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year and follows a deal with Uber to deploy thousands of its autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform across several international markets.

The partnership with PostBus, the public transport operator subsidiary of Swiss Post, will see an initial trial fleet begin testing in December 2025 with regular operations to be rolled out in the first quarter of 2027 at the latest, Baidu said in a statement.

Baidu and PostBus plan to deploy Apollo Go's autonomous vehicles in eastern Switzerland, covering an area that stretches across the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and Appenzell Innerrhoden.

Baidu, China's leading search engine operator, has been increasing its focus on technologies including AI and self-driving as its advertising-driven search engine business has slowed due to a weakening Chinese economy.

Baidu said Apollo Go currently operates a fully driverless fleet of over 1,000 vehicles globally, with its footprint spanning 16 cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Liam Mo and Brenda Goh; Editing by Joe Bavier)