Baidu, Swiss transport operator to launch autonomous ride-hailing

Baidu’s Apollo Go and Swiss public transport operator PostBus will launch an autonomous ride-hailing service called AmiGo in eastern Switzerland, with initial trials set for December 2025.

The service will use Apollo Go’s autonomous vehicles across the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, and Appenzell Innerrhoden, with plans for regular operations by Q1 2027.

The pilot phase will start with safety drivers and mapping trips, expanding to select users in 2026, and moving to fully driverless trials later that year.

The fully electric vehicles can seat up to four passengers and support ride-pooling.

The project is supported by Swiss regional governments and transport authorities.

Baidu, based in Beijing, operates Apollo Go in 16 cities and has provided over 14 million autonomous rides globally.

PostBus is a subsidiary of Swiss Post and runs road-based public transport services across Switzerland.

🔗 Source: Baidu

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

The Ordinance on Automated Driving, effective March 2025, permits Level 4 (high automation where the vehicle can drive itself within predefined conditions) service on designated routes with cantonal approval and remote monitoring 1. Each of the 26 cantons (Switzerland’s states) authorizes service areas 2.
AmiGo has backing from St. Gallen and Appenzell Ausserrhoden. Appenzell Innerrhoden and Thurgau support it, plus federal offices. Expansion needs talks and approvals with each added canton, which risks a patchwork 3.
Rules require daily inspections before departure and qualified remote operators (staff in a control center) watching vehicles in real time 4.
The plan targets Q1 2027 for regular service. Work starts with mapping runs without passengers, then pilots with safety drivers, then driverless trials. This meets the safety proof required for full deployment.
RT6 vehicles (Baidu Apollo’s purpose-built robotaxi model) are fully electric and will run pooled ridesharing, which needs depot charging for continuous service in the four cantons starting December 2025.
In Bern, the canton funds up to 35% of investment for public chargers, capped at Swiss francs (CHF) 60,000 per business location 5. Incentives differ by canton and municipality 6.
PostBus will operate AmiGo, creating bids for energy management systems (software that schedules and balances charging loads) and depot charging at transit depots. Switzerland targets over 20,000 charging points by 2025 under its e-Mobility Roadmap 7, so autonomous fleets create concentrated demand vendors can meet with tailored depots and grid upgrade partnerships (work with utilities to add capacity).