Chinese company Baidu reported a slowdown in the number of Apollo Go self-driving taxi trips in the first half of this year, compared to previous periods.
Data released by the company on Thursday showed a 26% increase in the number of flights operated publicly compared to last year, with a monthly average of 287,500 flights.
This increase is much lower than the company's growth in the first half of 2023, when growth reached 184% with a monthly average of 229,000 trips.
Although some Apollo Go vehicles still require a safety driver and are not fully autonomous, Baidu is continuing to expand in this area. The company’s CEO Robin Li explained that autonomous vehicles are now fully operational in most areas of Wuhan without the need for a safety crew on board, which has had a significant impact on operating costs.
Apollo Go still represents a tiny fraction of Wuhan’s ride-hailing market, accounting for only about 1% of the total, Li noted during an earnings call on Thursday, and said it would take years for the company to expand into the space to achieve meaningful market share.
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Despite the challenges, Baidu is continuing its plan to increase the number of self-driving taxis in Wuhan from 500 to 1,000 by the end of the year. However, this number remains small compared to the size of the overall market, while the company’s calculations showed that it carried out about 336,000 trips in July, which is a 23% increase from the monthly average in the third quarter of 2023.
Although Apollo Go’s ride growth is over 20%, it is still far below the size of the traditional ride-hailing market. The company announced Didi This week, China's total transaction value rose 8.7% year-on-year in the second quarter, with daily transactions hitting a record 33 million.
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