Baidu's Supercheap Robotaxis Should Scare the Hell Out of the US (theverge.com)
(Friday November 22, 2024 @05:45PM (BeauHD)
from the ready-or-not-here-it-comes dept.)
- Reference: 0175524453
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/22/2213210/baidus-supercheap-robotaxis-should-scare-the-hell-out-of-the-us
- Source link: https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/22/24303299/baidu-apollo-go-rt6-robotaxi-unit-economics-waymo
Baidu's new Apollo Go robotaxi brings significant advances in affordability and scalability that [1]should make U.S. competitors like Waymo a bit nervous , according to The Verge's Andrew J. Hawkins. From the report:
> The RT6 is the sixth generation of Apollo Go's driverless vehicle, which made its official debut in May 2024. It's a purpose-built, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, meaning it's built without the need for a human driver. And here's the thing that should make US competitors nervous: adopting a battery-swapping solution, the price for one individual RT6 is "under $30,000," Baidu CEO Robin Li said in [2]an earnings call . "All the strengths just mentioned above are driving us forward, paving the way to validate our business model," Li added. [...]
>
> We still don't know the net effect of Baidu's cost improvements. But bringing down the upfront cost of each individual vehicle to below $30,000 will go a long way toward improving the company's unit economics, in which each vehicle brings in more money than it costs. There are still a lot of outstanding costs to consider, such as hardware depreciation and fleet maintenance, but from what Baidu is signaling, things are on the right track. From the looks of it, the company is passing those savings along to its customers. Base fares start as low as 4 yuan (around 55 cents), compared with 18 yuan (around $2.48) for a taxi driven by a human, according to state media outlet Global Times. Apollo Go said it has provided 988,000 rides across all of China in Q3 2024 -- a year-over-year growth of 20 percent. And cumulative public rides reached 8 million in October.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/22/24303299/baidu-apollo-go-rt6-robotaxi-unit-economics-waymo
[2] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4739368-baidu-inc-bidu-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript
> The RT6 is the sixth generation of Apollo Go's driverless vehicle, which made its official debut in May 2024. It's a purpose-built, Level 4 autonomous vehicle, meaning it's built without the need for a human driver. And here's the thing that should make US competitors nervous: adopting a battery-swapping solution, the price for one individual RT6 is "under $30,000," Baidu CEO Robin Li said in [2]an earnings call . "All the strengths just mentioned above are driving us forward, paving the way to validate our business model," Li added. [...]
>
> We still don't know the net effect of Baidu's cost improvements. But bringing down the upfront cost of each individual vehicle to below $30,000 will go a long way toward improving the company's unit economics, in which each vehicle brings in more money than it costs. There are still a lot of outstanding costs to consider, such as hardware depreciation and fleet maintenance, but from what Baidu is signaling, things are on the right track. From the looks of it, the company is passing those savings along to its customers. Base fares start as low as 4 yuan (around 55 cents), compared with 18 yuan (around $2.48) for a taxi driven by a human, according to state media outlet Global Times. Apollo Go said it has provided 988,000 rides across all of China in Q3 2024 -- a year-over-year growth of 20 percent. And cumulative public rides reached 8 million in October.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/22/24303299/baidu-apollo-go-rt6-robotaxi-unit-economics-waymo
[2] https://seekingalpha.com/article/4739368-baidu-inc-bidu-q3-2024-earnings-call-transcript
Little seems more terrifying (Score:2)
by locater16 ( 2326718 )
than being asked to ride in a "supercheap robotaxi".
No so cheap after the Trump tariffs (Score:2)
by schwit1 ( 797399 )
Baidu's going to have to make them in the US for them to be economical.
No safety requirements makes things a lot easier.. (Score:2)
by GotNoRice ( 7207988 )
Things work differently in China, obviously. Government-run companies don't have to worry about private lawsuits when their robotaxis cause accidents and kill people. It's considered acceptable losses for the sake of market dominance.
I'm not terribly scared (Score:2)
Ignoring the fact that we are gearing up for a cold war with China in order to keep our military industrial complex going the fact of the matter is these Chinese EVs don't meet the safety requirements for American roads. And if they rebuild them so that they do and then ship them over here the costs from that make them about the same as anything built in the country.
Labor really isn't the limiting factor and labor is pretty much all China has besides non-existent environmental regulations and cancer vil