According to Baidu Apollo, the production costs for the new robotaxi were reduced to 200,000 yuan (about 26,000 euros), 50 percent less than the previous generation.
The Chinese tech company Baidu said Wednesday that its robotaxi unit Apollo Go expects profitability next year.
This prediction comes as Elon Musk announces his plans to expand robotaxi efforts Tesla despite declining income. Baidu is one of the big players in China’s emerging robotaxi market and received permission from a Beijing district to charge fares in November 2021.
While security personnel are still present in most cars, Baidu and the start-up were allowed Pony.ai In September 2023, this Beijing district will officially generate fare revenue for robotaxi rides without staff in the vehicle.
Apollo Go completed about 839,000 rides in the last three months of 2023, according to Baidu’s latest earnings report. The company will report its quarterly results on Thursday.
In Wuhan, about 45% of orders were completely driverless in the fourth quarter, a 40% increase from the previous quarter, the company said.