Baidu's Apollo Go Wins Level 4 Permit in Switzerland, Its European Debut

Baidu's robotaxis have reached European roads for the first time: the AmiGo joint venture has received a special permit from the Swiss Federal Roads Office for Level 4 autonomous driving.

Who is AmiGo

AmiGo is a joint venture between Apollo Go, the unit of Chinese tech giant Baidu, and PostBus, a subsidiary of Swiss Post. PostBus runs bus routes in the country's rural and mountainous areas, exactly where ordinary taxis are rare and public transport logistics are hardest.

The partnership makes sense. Apollo Go has the technology and millions of autonomous rides behind it. PostBus has an extensive route network and established relationships with regulators. Together they are targeting the niche where traditional transport struggles most.

What Level 4 means in practice

The permit is issued under the SAE Level 4 standard. To understand the difference:

• Level 3: the car drives itself, but the driver must take over within a few seconds when the system requests it
• Level 4: the car fully controls itself within a defined geofenced zone, with no human involvement required at all
• Level 5: full autonomy everywhere and in all conditions (not yet achieved by anyone)

The permit is valid only on routes agreed in advance with the regulator. The standard process: the company maps a section, runs tests, proves safety, and then gains the right to operate there specifically. Open testing began on June 1, 2026.

Apollo Go: scale and ambitions

Apollo Go is one of Baidu's fastest-scaling autonomous transport units. By the end of 2025, the company had completed more than seven million paid rides in China in total. Commercial services operate in eleven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan. In Wuhan, fully driverless rides, with no safety operator on board, are already running.

The Swiss launch is Apollo Go's first operation outside China. For Baidu, it is evidence that the technological groundwork built in its home market can work under very different legal, climatic and infrastructure conditions.

Why Switzerland

Mountainous terrain, snow, fog and unconventional intersections make the country one of the toughest proving grounds for autonomous driving systems. If a robotaxi copes in the Alps, that is a weighty argument in talks with regulators in other European countries.

Swiss legislation on autonomous vehicles is also considered among the most progressive on the continent: FEDRO allowed testing on public roads back in 2021. PostBus is no newcomer to experimentation either, having launched driverless electric buses in mountain resorts as early as 2018. The partnership with Baidu is a logical continuation of that strategy.

What this means

Baidu Apollo Go is the first major Asian player to enter the European robotaxi market with an official regulatory permit. For public transport operators, this is both a competitive signal and a potential opportunity: partnering with a ready, scalable platform instead of spending years on in-house development.