Tesla joins forces with China's Google for the Robotaxi project?

Baidu is the world's largest driverless transport services company and is set to collaborate with Elon Musk and co.

Tesla Full self-Driving

By: Francesco Barontini

Published by: Brian Potter

May 18, 2024 at 11:30am ET

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The secret of Tesla Robotaxi's success lies in the software. It is by adopting safe and reliable autonomous driving technology that the American company's new electric vehicle will be able to spread and make big numbers. That's why Tesla is hard at work on Full Self-Driving, which, let's not forget, is still in beta.

But, clearly, there is someone who believes in FSD. That someone is Baidu, the Chinese IT giant which, among other things, is also the world's largest company in the field of driverless taxi services. In fact, the general manager of Baidu's autonomous driving division, Xu Baoqiang, has said that entering into a partnership with Tesla could be beneficial for both parties.

Chinese debut nears

Baoqiang's comments follow closely on the heels of those made by the authorities in the Land of the Dragon about the possibility of granting Tesla the necessary authorisations to begin testing Robotaxis on its roads and, more specifically, in Shanghai.

Many analysts see the partnership on the deployment of self-driving vehicles for helicopter services as likely, given that Baidu and Tesla already have a long-standing relationship. Among the various projects linking them, one allows Tesla to use Baidu's maps to operate fully self-driving vehicles in China.

Markets at different speeds

While the road to Robotaxi's debut in China appears to be a bumpy one, the same cannot be said for the United States, which remains Tesla's biggest market in the world.

Lars Moravy, vice president of engineering at Tesla, said that in America, some federal states have already passed laws to regulate driverless taxi services, but they are still immature and need to be implemented.

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"We need to talk to the authorities, explain our safety methods and the benefits of autonomous driving. That's how we'll pave the way for this technology and convince states where autonomous driving is not yet regulated."

The same applies to Europe.