Apollo
Ownership
Baidu
Status
Available to the public in Beijing
Available to the public in Changsha
Available to the public in Chengdu
Available to the public in Shenzen
Available to the public in Guangzhou
Available to the public in Shanghai
Available to the public in Chongqing
Available to the public in Wuzhen
Available to the public in Wuhan
Available to the public in Yangquan
Available to the public in Hefei
Baidu Apollo: 839K rides in Q4 2023
News
Baidu, the tech company sometimes called the “Google of China” announced its new 6th generation robotaxi, with plans to deploy 1,000 of them in Wuhan this year. They also forecast they will be profitable in 2025 (on a “unit economy” basis, a type of gross margin.) The new vehicle, which costs them 200,000 RMB to build (around $27,500 USD) is half the cost of their previous generation vehicle.
While the new vehicles retain a wheel and pedals, they will operate without safety drivers in Wuhan, where 70% of Baidu Apollo Go’s robotaxi operations currently are without a safety driver, according to the company.
"Baidu Announces Plan to Build the World's Largest Fully Driverless Ride-Hailing Service Area in 2023"
Having a go
Video explaining how to book via Apollo Go app:
Testing without a safety driver
Shuttle vehicle
Baidu Apollo teamed up with King Long, the 2nd largest commercial bus maker in China, to start the volume production of the L4 minibus called Apolong in July 2018
RT6 vehicle
"Baidu will add the Apollo RT6 EV – a cross between an SUV and a minivan that comes with a detachable steering wheel – to its Apollo Go ride-hailing service next year. The new battery-electric robotaxi is Baidu’s sixth-generation autonomous vehicle and the first model built on its Xinghe self-driving platform. The automaker said that developing the battery-electric architecture in-house helped trim production costs to a manageable $37,000 per unit.
Baidu said that recent advances in manufacturing have cut production costs, allowing it to eventually build and operate tens of thousands of robotaxis at scale across Chinese mega-cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen by next year.
“This massive cost reduction will enable us to deploy tens of thousands of AVs across China,” Robin Li, Baidu’s CEO and co-founder, said at the Baidu World 2022 technology conference. “We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi will be half the cost of taking a taxi today.”"
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/20/baidu-reveals-next-gen-robotaxi-for-china/
Further images available at: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baidu-unveils-next-gen-autonomous-vehicle-ready-to-provide-driverless-robotaxi-half-of-taxi-fares-301590644.html
Consumer prices not clear
“We are moving towards a future where taking a robotaxi (RT6) will be half the cost of taking a taxi today.”
"Given a five-year operation, the monthly cost of a RT6 (250,000 RMB) is about 4166 RMB while the monthly wage of a human ride-hail driver in China's tier-1 cities is ~8,000 RMB"
This appears to be the capital cost divided by 60 months (5 years), which is not a fair comparison against a human taxi driver wage. Need to have capital cost, maintenance & driver wages for a true comparison.
Source:
Jidu
Separate company to Apollo however Apollo technology provides the driving capability
"JiDU’s first brand experience center will open in Shanghai this year, and the first batch of stores is planned to enter 46 cities in China in 2023, completing an initial layout of the company’s national sales network. In addition, Joe Xia announced that the company will have the ability to deliver 800,000 robocars throughout the year in 2028"
Source: https://pandaily.com/jidu-plans-to-enter-46-cities-in-china-by-end-of-2023/
Technology
"The camera-based ANP 3.0 navigates highways, urban streets & parking in major Chinese cities with ease"
Long term vision
65 cities by 2025, 100 by 2030
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/17/baidu-robotaxi-2030/
Baidu has been testing autonomous driving on open roads since last year, and its Apollo Go robotaxi service has carried more than 210,000 passengers in three cities across China to date, with plans to expand to 30 cities over the next three years.
Source: https://cities-today.com/autonomous-robotaxi-service-launched-in-beijing/
The search engine giant currently (September 2022) operates around 500 self-driving cars in China, with plans to expand that fleet to 3,000 vehicles in 30 cities by 2023.
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