Baidu's robotaxi unit is planning to expand into international markets in the near future.

• Apollo Go, the robotaxi unit of Chinese tech company Baidu, is considering expanding overseas in the near future, according to a source.
• Self-driving taxis are being commercially operated by companies in parts of Beijing and Wuhan, which is Apollo Go's largest operating region.
• Tesla is scheduled to hold its widely anticipated robotaxi event on Thursday.

Apollo Go, the robotaxi unit of a Chinese tech company, is in discussions with various firms to expand into international markets in the near future, a source close to the matter has revealed.

No details on timing or regions were available.

In China, Baidu is one of the significant operators of robotaxis. After years of internal testing, regulators in parts of Beijing and cities such as Wuhan, where Apollo Go's largest operating region is located, have permitted companies to commercially operate self-driving taxis.

is scheduled to hold its widely anticipated robotaxi event on Thursday.

In late September, WeRide, a Chinese robotaxi developer, announced a deal to integrate its cars onto the ride-hailing giant's platform in Abu Dhabi this year. The statement revealed that the companies did not plan on similar partnerships in the U.S. or China.

In July, Uber announced their plans to create "autonomous-capable vehicles" for their ride-hailing platform, but they did not disclose any further information.

In China, robotaxi rides are operated by Baidu and companies such as Pony.ai, and are generally highly subsidized by the companies to encourage their usage. However, local regulations sometimes require a human staff worker to sit inside the car, meaning not all the vehicles are fully autonomous.

As of late July, more than 7 million robotaxi rides had been operated by Apollo Go, as stated by Baidu.

On Tuesday, Baidu announced that Rong Luo would no longer be its CFO and would instead become executive vice president in charge of the company's mobile ecosystem unit. Junjie He, who previously led the mobile unit, will serve as interim CFO. Baidu described these changes as part of a "management rotation."