BEIJING – Chinese technology company baidu reports slower growth in its Apollo Go robotaxi rides than in previous quarters.
Figures released by Baidu on Thursday show that the variety of publicly operated robotaxi rides rose 26 percent in the primary half of the 12 months in comparison with the identical period last 12 months, to a monthly average of 287,500 rides, in keeping with calculations by CNBC.
This is a big decline from year-on-year growth of 184% in the primary half of 2023, with a monthly average of 229,000 trips.
Some of the cars still require a security driver and usually are not fully autonomous.
Baidu is considered one of the most important operators of robot taxis for public transport in China. In parts of Beijing and cities reminiscent of Wuhan – Apollo Go's largest area of operation – regulators have allowed the businesses to charge fares.
Apollo Go has accomplished a complete of seven million rides as of July 28, Baidu said Thursday, up from 6 million on April 19. The company first crossed the 1 million mark two years ago in July 2022.
In just about all parts of Wuhan, Baidu's “Apollo Go” robot taxis at the moment are fully autonomous and operate without security personnel on board, Baidu CEO Robin Li said in a conference call on quarterly results on Thursday, in keeping with a transcript from FactSet.
“This has a significant impact on costs,” he said.
A surge in interest within the robotaxis in Wuhan in early July coincided with a rapid increase within the number of individuals turning to ride-sharing services, raising concerns concerning the impact of automation on employment.
Apollo Go only has about 1 percent of the ride-sharing market in Wuhan, Li said. “Scaling will be a gradual process and could take many years.”
He described the local fleet as around 400 robotaxis, but didn’t reiterate longer-term goals.
Baidu had previously stated that there have been over 500 robot taxis in operation in Wuhan and that it planned to extend this number to 1,000 by the tip of the 12 months.
A tiny fraction of ride-sharing services
The company accomplished about 336,000 Apollo Go rides in China last month (as of July 28), CNBC calculations show. That's about 23% above the monthly average within the third quarter of 2023.
With growth of over 20%, the rise in robotaxi rides remains to be faster than ride-hailing, but to a much lesser extent.
Didi said earlier this week that gross transaction value in China rose 8.7 percent year-on-year within the three months ended June 30, but the typical variety of day by day transactions hit a record 33 million.
“Despite these milestones, our share of the overall ride-hailing market is very small,” Baidu's Li said. “It will take many years for us to achieve a significant market share in China or anywhere else.”
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