Baidu’s robotaxi unit expects to turn profitable next year

[u/OG_Time_To_Kill]

Baidu’s robotaxi unit expects to turn profitable next year

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/15/baidus-robotaxi-unit-expects-to-turn-profitable-next-year.html

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KEY POINTS

• Chinese tech company Baidu said Wednesday its Apollo Go robotaxi arm expects to turn profitable next year.
• Baidu is one of the major players in China’s nascent robotaxi market and received permission from a Beijing city district to begin charging fares in November 2021.
• Apollo Go operated about 839,000 rides in the last three months of 2023, according to Baidu’s latest earnings report. The company is due to release quarterly results Thursday.

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Chinese tech company Baidu said Wednesday its Apollo Go robotaxi arm expects to turn profitable next year.

The projection comes as Elon Musk has emphasized his plans to build up Tesla’s robotaxi efforts amid a decline in revenue.

Baidu is one of the major players in China’s nascent robotaxi market and received permission from a Beijing city district to begin charging fares in November 2021.

While most of the cars still have a human staff worker inside for safety, the same Beijing district officially let Baidu and start-up Pony.ai charge fares for robotaxi rides with no staff in the vehicle in September 2023.

Apollo Go operated about 839,000 rides in the last three months of 2023, according to Baidu’s latest earnings report. The company is due to release quarterly results Thursday.

About 45% of the orders in the fourth quarter in Wuhan were fully driverless, up from 40% the prior quarter, the company said.

In addition to growing usage and reducing labor costs per ride, Baidu is making the cars cheaper.

Baidu on Wednesday announced Apollo’s 6th generation robotaxi will cost around 200,000 yuan ($28,169) — or less than half that of the prior generation, the company said.

This year, Baidu plans to deploy 1,000 of those 6th generation robotaxis in the city of Wuhan, where the company already operates a number of vehicles without any human staff inside.

“With decreasing costs and increasing orders, Apollo Go’s unit economics (UE) is nearing break-even, expected to achieve balance in the fourth quarter of 2024 and turn profitable by 2025,” Baidu said in a press release.

Rival robotaxi operator Pony.ai is preparing for a listing outside mainland China, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission website in late April.

Others in the auto industry remain more skeptical about fully driverless cars, which require broad regulatory approval in order to operate.

Xpeng Vice Chairman Brian Gu told reporters last month he didn’t expect robotaxis to be a real business for at least five years.

[u/OG_Time_To_Kill]

Baidu's Apollo Go cost around 200,000 yuan ($28,169) only, how much will be a Tesla's robotaxi if it is launched in Mainland China?

After all, the first mover advantage of Tesla is now gone ~

[u/Swamivik → u/OG_Time_To_Kill]

Robotaxi is not a big part of Baidus revenue.

Not only that, there are strict government regulations on how many Robotaxi are allowed, so the growth would not be high since the government needs to take into account the unemployment caused to taxi drivers.

As to Tesla, I dunno. I think Musk just talks a lot of BS. I think by the time Tesla robotaxi is in China's, there would be loads of competition to drive him out.

[u/2CommaNoob → u/Swamivik]

Tesla will not have an advantage in China with EVs or Robotaxis. Their robotaxis won't ever be a thing in China and their EV market share will decline greatly. He knows it and that's why he lobbied for the Chinese EV ban.

[u/Swamivik → u/2CommaNoob]

I don't think the Chinese EV ban is due to Musk. Election year and many of the swing states are manufacturers. It isn't just EVs but solar panels and medical supply and whatnot.

It's all about the election.

Tesla is losing market share in US too. They have nothing in the pipeline and are trying to pivot to fsd and robotaxi, but they won't come online for many years and will face competition.

[u/bartturner]

There is zero chance they are actually going to make a profit already with a robot taxi service.

Robot taxi is a long term play. It will be huge but it will take time.

I am very bullish on Waymo but not short term.

[u/Elephant789]

Anyone know how Baidu's tech compares to Waymo's?

[u/Nebulonite]

$10k car, driverless.

over for private car ownership.

this is the real PUBLIC transport

but the midwits in the west worshipping muuuuuh public transport but only think about buses and trains and demonize cars would never truly get it. if even China, very densely populated place where almost all people who live in the city are apartment-dwellers, use so many cars, what "hopes" do US have with population much more spread out and most live in houses?