Baidu launches on July 21, 2022, the sixth generation of a self-driving electric car built for ride-hailing trips – at nearly 50% less cost than a model announced last year .
Baidu
BEIJING – Chinese tech giant Baidu announced Thursday that it has cut the price of robotaxi cars by nearly half, reducing costs for a fledgling business.
Baidu says the new vehicle, the Apollo RT6, is an electric vehicle with a production cost of 250,000 yuan (about $37,313) without depending on a third-party manufacturer. That price is 48% lower than The production cost of 480,000 yuan was announced last year for the Apollo Moon, cooperation with the electric vehicle brand Arcfox of the state-owned BAIC Group.
Apollo RT6 is expected to start operating on Chinese roads in the second half of next year under Baidu’s self-driving robotaxi business.
The company’s robotaxi business, called Apollo Go, received approved in November to start charging fares for trips in a suburban district. However, an employee is still required to stay in the vehicle.
In April, the city government eased restrictions about whether employees have to be in the driver’s seat, paving the way to eliminating the cost of a taxi driver altogether. It remains unclear when the Chinese government will allow the robot to charge for trips without any staff on board.
We’re moving towards a future where robot commuting will be half the cost of taking a taxi today.
Baidu says the company aims to produce 100,000 Apollo RT6 vehicles in an unspecified period of time.
“This massive cost reduction will allow us to deploy tens of thousands [autonomous driving vehicles] Robin Li, co-founder and CEO of Baidu, said across China.
Apollo Go operates in 10 cities in China, with plans to reach 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030, the company said.
In addition to Baidu, startups like Pony.ai and WeRide are testing robotaxi businesses in China.
To expand in China, companies need to test robotaxis and apply for permits in each city they want to operate in, Elinor Leung, managing director of Asian internet and telecom research at CLSA, told CNBC. at the beginning of this week.
Until cities recognize each other’s testing records, she said, robotaxi companies will need to raise more money to test more cars in different cities.
