BEIJING, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Baidu ( BIDU ) announced a

partnership with Switzerland's PostBus on Wednesday to launch

its Apollo Go autonomous vehicle service in the European

country, as the Chinese tech firm accelerates a global push of

its self-driving business.

The partnership comes after Baidu ( BIDU ) partnered with Lyft ( LYFT ) in

August to deploy robotaxis across Europe starting next year and

follows a deal with Uber ( UBER ) to deploy thousands of its autonomous

vehicles on the Uber ( UBER ) platform across several international

markets.

The partnership with PostBus, the public transport operator

subsidiary of Swiss Post, will see an initial trial fleet begin

testing in December 2025 with regular operations to be rolled

out in the first quarter of 2027 at the latest, Baidu ( BIDU ) said in a

statement.

Baidu ( BIDU ) and PostBus plan to deploy Apollo Go's autonomous

vehicles in eastern Switzerland, covering an area that stretches

across the cantons of St. Gallen, Appenzell Ausserrhoden and

Appenzell Innerrhoden.

Baidu ( BIDU ), China's leading search engine operator, has been

increasing its focus on technologies including AI and

self-driving as its advertising-driven search engine business

has slowed due to a weakening Chinese economy.

Baidu ( BIDU ) said Apollo Go currently operates a fully driverless

fleet of over 1,000 vehicles globally, with its footprint

spanning 16 cities including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong.