Global Big Data Conference

Baidu, a Chinese search engine and artificial intelligence firm, unveiled its latest electric autonomous driving vehicle on Thursday. The Apollo RT6 will be soon be part of Baidu's robotaxi fleet, as China pushes forward with its autonomous driving ambitions. It is a fully electric vehicle with a steering wheel that can be removed or installed when required, and will cost 250,000 yuan ($37,000) per unit. "This massive cost reduction will enable us to deploy tens of thousands of autonomous vehicles across China," Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said at the firm's Baidu World conference Thursday. "We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi will be half the cost of taking a taxi today."