BEIJING — In lower than two years, Chinese language tech big Baidu’s robotaxis have grabbed about 10% of the ride-hailing market in a suburb of Beijing metropolis, the corporate stated throughout an earnings name Tuesday.
Baidu’s U.S.-traded shares fell 6.5% in a single day to $137.69 every. Shares are down by greater than 7% for the 12 months to date.
The Chinese language firm stated it has greater than 100 robotaxis working within the suburb, with every automobile operating greater than 20 journeys a day on common. Native guidelines require human employees to take a seat within the automobile with passengers.
In Beijing, Baidu can not but function its robotaxi enterprise on public roads within the central half of town. In response to data from the corporate, the one half of Beijing the place Baidu can cost fares for rides on public roads is in a suburb known as Yizhuang.
The area is roughly a 30-minute drive south from the middle of China’s capital metropolis. The realm is dwelling to many firms together with e-commerce big JD.com’s headquarters.
Baidu started providing free robotaxi rides in Yizhuang in October 2020, and obtained approval to gather fares in November 2021.
Nevertheless, CNBC checks of the Baidu robotaxi app have confirmed rides stay closely sponsored, at the same time as of Wednesday.
A half-hour journey from JD.com’s headquarters to a residential space inside Yizhuang displayed a fare of 5.36 yuan (79 cents) — and a 48.24 yuan low cost.
A verify of start-up Pony.ai’s robotaxi app confirmed the fare for a similar route was utterly sponsored. Pony.ai obtained approval to cost fares for its robotaxis in Yizhuang across the identical time that Baidu did.
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Baidu’s robotaxi enterprise, branded Apollo Go, operates in additional than ten cities in China. Apollo Go can cost fares in seven of these cities, the corporate stated.
In Tuesday’s earnings launch, Baidu stated it ran 287,000 public robotaxi rides within the second quarter, up 46% from the primary quarter.
Of that second quarter whole, robotaxi rides in Yizhuang accounted for greater than 60%, in keeping with CNBC’s calculations.
