Baidu studies slower progress in robotaxi rides

BEIJING — Chinese language tech firm Baidu is reporting slower progress in its Apollo Go robotaxi rides than in prior quarters.

Figures Baidu reported Thursday confirmed the variety of robotaxi rides operated publicly grew by 26% year-on-year within the first half of the 12 months to a month-to-month common of 287,500 rides, in accordance with CNBC calculations.

That is down sharply from year-on-year progress of 184% within the first half of 2023, for a month-to-month common of 229,000 rides.

A few of the vehicles nonetheless require a security driver and are usually not totally autonomous.

Baidu is without doubt one of the main operators of public-facing robotaxis in China, the place regulators in elements of Beijing and cities similar to Wuhan — Apollo Go’s largest working area — have allowed the businesses to gather fares.

Apollo Go has cumulatively operated 7 million rides as of July 28, Baidu mentioned Thursday. That is up from 6 million as of April 19. The corporate first crossed the 1 million mark two years in the past in July 2022.

In practically all elements of Wuhan, Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis now function totally autonomously with no security workers on board, Baidu CEO Robin Li mentioned on an earnings name Thursday, in accordance with a FactSet transcript.

“This has a big affect on prices,” he mentioned.

A surge of curiosity within the Wuhan robotaxis in early July coincided with a fast rise in folks turning to ride-hailing jobs, elevating issues concerning the affect of automation on employment.

Apollo Go solely has round 1% share of the ride-hailing market in Wuhan, Li mentioned. “Scaling might be a gradual course of and will take a few years.”

He described the native fleet as consisting of round 400 robotaxis, with out reiterating longer-term targets.

Baidu beforehand mentioned it had greater than 500 robotaxis working in Wuhan, and deliberate to extend that to 1,000 by the top of the 12 months.

The corporate operated round 336,000 Apollo Go rides in China final month as of July 28, CNBC calculations confirmed. That is about 23% above the month-to-month common within the third quarter of 2023.

With progress above 20%, the rise in robotaxi rides continues to be sooner than that of ride-hailing, however at a much smaller scale.

Didi mentioned earlier this week that gross transaction worth in China rose by 8.7% year-on-year within the three months ended June 30. Nevertheless, its common day by day transactions reached a report of 33 million.

“Even with these milestones, our share in your complete ride-hailing service market may be very small,” Baidu’s Li mentioned. “It would take a few years for us to succeed in a significant market share in China or elsewhere.”