Apollo Go, Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc's autonomous ride-hailing service, has received the first batch of fully driverless commercial permits issued by the Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) of Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

This marks the first large-scale public operation of Apollo Go's fully driverless robotaxi service outside of China, underscoring a key milestone in its global expansion strategy.

Under a next-phase agreement with AutoGo, a leading UAE-based autonomous mobility company, Apollo Go will scale its fleet to hundreds of vehicles by 2026, building what is expected to become Abu Dhabi's largest fully driverless fleet.

The permit authorizes Apollo Go to officially provide robotaxi services to residents and visitors of Abu Dhabi. The move follows Apollo Go's strategic partnership with Autogo in March to enter Abu Dhabi, and months of fully driverless testing on public roads.

To date, Apollo Go's total autonomous driving mileage has exceeded 240 million kilometers, with a global footprint spanning 22 cities and more than 17 million cumulative rides completed as of Oct 31.

Looking ahead, Apollo Go and AutoGo plan to scale commercial robotaxi services to reach more users and advance Abu Dhabi's smart city vision.