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DUBAI - Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU and HKEX:9888), the $43 billion tech giant with a robust financial health score of "GOOD" according to InvestingPro, has received Dubai’s first autonomous driving trial permit along with 50 test licenses from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), according to a company statement released Wednesday.
The permits, granted in July, have enabled Apollo Go’s fleet of 50 autonomous vehicles to conduct open-road testing in designated areas of Dubai since August. The company, trading at an attractive P/E ratio of 8.82 and maintaining a healthy current ratio of 1.85, is currently the only platform authorized to run self-driving trials on Dubai’s open roads, showcasing its sixth-generation autonomous vehicles (RT6) at the 4th Dubai World Congress for Self-Driving Transport.
"We are honored to bring this new dimension to Dubai’s public transportation ecosystem, following our partnership with the RTA in March," said Liang Zhang, Managing Director of EMEA, Baidu Apollo.
The development follows a Memorandum of Understanding signed between Apollo Go and the RTA earlier this year. Looking ahead, the companies plan to expand the fleet to more than 1,000 fully driverless vehicles by 2028, supporting Dubai’s autonomous mobility initiatives.
This marks Apollo Go’s latest international expansion, following its November 2024 achievement of securing Hong Kong’s first autonomous driving test license, which represented its entry into right-hand-drive markets.
Baidu reports that Apollo Go has accumulated 200 million kilometers of safe driving experience and provided 14 million autonomous rides to the public in China, where it operates fully driverless urban services.
In other recent news, Baidu, Inc. has completed an offering of CNY4.4 billion in senior unsecured notes due in 2029, with an interest rate of 1.90%. These notes were sold in offshore transactions outside the United States, relying on Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act. The company plans to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, such as repaying existing debt and interest payments. In a strategic move, Baidu has partnered with Uber Technologies to deploy thousands of its Apollo Go autonomous vehicles on the Uber platform in markets outside the U.S. and mainland China, with initial deployments expected in Asia and the Middle East. Additionally, Baidu announced the appointment of Haijian He as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. He brings extensive experience from his previous roles at Kingsoft Cloud Holdings, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Citigroup Global Markets. These developments highlight Baidu’s ongoing strategic initiatives and management reshuffle.
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