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Robotaxi has 10,000 orders a day, and the sixth generation of vehicles will be launched soon! Robin Li: Robotaxi is becoming the first choice for commuting

2024-08-23

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10,000 orders per day, with cumulative service exceeding 7 million times.

This is the commercialization process of China's autonomous driving, and its current best results. The data comes from Baidu's recently released second-quarter financial report.

In terms of intuitive data, Luobo Kuaipao has achieved a milestone achievement, with the number of orders in a single quarter reaching a new high and the growth rate continuing to accelerate.

In terms of user experience, Robotaxi is starting to gain popularity, and taking an unmanned vehicle is becoming people's first choice for commuting.

The support and trust of users, the growing orders, and the launch of new models have made Baidu see the potential of Robotaxi.break evenThe hope also means that autonomous driving is approaching a positive cycle and moving towards a new node.

Just two days before Baidu showed off its new achievements, another leader in autonomous drivingWaymo, and also announced new commercial progress in a high-profile manner, showing off the order volume...The two giants of China and the United States, the local radish and the foreign radish, are jointly pushing Robotaxi to new heights.

Baidu's financial report shows the carrot running fast

Let’s first take a brief look at Baidu’s overall financial situation.

In the second quarter, Baidu's total revenue was33.931 billion yuan, with little change year-on-year. Core operating profit was 5.6 billion yuan, up 23% year-on-year.

Looking specifically at each business, advertising revenue was 19.2 billion yuan.

Thanks toAI Intelligent CloudDriven by, non-advertising revenue reached 7.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10%.

Therefore, in the financial report, AI smart cloud is a highlight performance item highlighted separately.

Another area that was also singled out for emphasis was Robotaxi, in which Baidu made a number of key advances in the second quarter.

First, let’s look at the most intuitive data:

Baidu disclosed that in the second quarter, LuoBoKuaiPao provided899,000 timesServices, compared with the same period last year26% increase, which is the same period in 20223xAnd more.

A simple calculation shows that the average daily order volume in the second quarter is9879Single, close to 10,000.

And recently achieved a key milestone, the number of Robotaxi services exceeded7 million, the growth rate is getting faster and faster.

Commercial dataquantityIn the growth, the hiddenqualityAlso improving:

On June 19, Carrot Run was tested in the Wuhan area.Achieve full unmanned, achieving a key step in cost reduction and moving towards a balance between income and expenditure.

At the same time, the sixth-generation LoBo Express car is about to be launched, which will help to further reduce costs.

Overall, Baidu released many positive signals to the autonomous driving industry in the second quarter, providing a reference for the implementation of Robotaxi.

During the earnings call, Robin Li also revealed more about the planning and research of Robotaxi.

Carrot Run in Earnings Conference Call

In summary, Baidu's response to Robotaxi mainly includes the following three points:

  • Commercialization goals

  • Current Development and Future Outlook

  • Views on cooperation and competition

First, in terms of commercialization goals, Robin Li emphasized that the current focus of the Robotaxi business isKey cities achieve balance of payments, and will later shift to a "light asset model".

According to Baidu Apollo's previous plan, the goal of breaking even will be achieved by the end of this year.WuhanAchieved, and will further achieve profitability next year.

Secondly, Baidu's Robotaxi businessThe current development momentum is positive, and there is huge room for future growth

Li Yanhong revealed that more and more people are using driverless cars, not with an attitude of "trying" but as a way toThe best choice for daily commuting

However, Robin Li also admitted that Robotaxi currently accounts for a small share of the taxi market in Wuhan, at around 1%, and it will take many years to expand its scale.

He believes that Robotaxi will "open up huge market opportunities... and ultimately reshape China's transportation landscape."

The huge market opportunities will certainly attract a large number of players, and they will inevitably compete and cooperate with Baidu, the leader in autonomous driving.

Regarding the partnership, Robin Li said that Baidu maintains an open attitude and may engage in technology licensing and authorization operations in the future to benefit the entire society with better transportation solutions.

Facing industry competition, Li Yanhong believesThe bar for robotaxi is high, three conditions are required:

  • Strong technical support

  • Long-term investment capabilities

  • Strong capital reserve

On the other side of the ocean, there happens to be a player who meets all three conditions and has recently surpassed Baidu in the commercialization process.

One More Thing

Recently, Waymo officially announced that it hasThe number of Robotaxi services has reached 100,000 per week

This data was still 50,000 orders in May, and the average daily order number at that time was slightly less than that of Baidu.

Why is it growing so fast?

This is related to Waymo's continuous expansion of its operating area in the past three months.

In June this year, Waymo announcedSan FranciscoProvide Robotaxi services for users.

Not long ago, Waymo was approved to provide services in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, California.

The continuous expansion of its operating areas enabled Waymo to eventually double its order volume and surpass Baidu.

At the same time, both parties have entered a new stage of operation:

Baidu's sixth-generation car has been tested on a large scale. The MPV model has greatly reduced hardware costs, achieved full unmanned driving, supported battery replacement, and significantly reduced operating costs.

Waymo's sixth-generation car has also recently begun testing.ZeekrThe same model as the "Baby Bus" does not require a safety officer, and even does not need pedals or a steering wheel.

The two players, representing the highest level of autonomous driving in China and the United States respectively, are chasing each other and starting a new round of competition for the holy grail of autonomous driving.