While the commercialization prospects of autonomous driving technology are still under debate within the industry, Baidu's Apollo Go has quietly delivered a stunning performance. This latest financial data not only breaks through the various doubts about the commercialization of driverless technology, but also lights the way for profitability in the Robotaxi industry.
Numbers never lie. The weekly order volume of Apollo Go has soared to an impressive 169,000 orders, meaning that on average, 24,000 users choose to take these intelligent autonomous vehicles for travel every day. More excitingly, this order volume has seen a remarkable 148% growth compared to the same period last year, setting a new record for the fastest growth in Apollo Go's two years. This explosive growth is driven by the rapid increase in user acceptance of autonomous driving technology and is the best reflection of Baidu's technical strength and operational capabilities.
In the financial report, Li Yanhong revealed a major news that caught the attention of the entire industry: Apollo Go has successfully achieved a break-even point for a single vehicle in Wuhan. This seemingly simple financial indicator hides milestone significance in the path of autonomous driving commercialization. It is well known that high operating costs and technological research and development investments have long been the biggest obstacles to the profitability of Robotaxi services. Apollo Go's successful breakthrough in Wuhan undoubtedly proves that autonomous taxi services have real commercial viability for the entire industry.
From Baidu's overall financial performance, although the total revenue in the second quarter of 2023 was 32.7 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.42% compared to the same period last year, the core business revenue reached 26.3 billion yuan, an increase of 3% year-on-year. Particularly worth noting is that Baidu's AI new business revenue has exceeded the important threshold of 10 billion yuan for the first time, fully demonstrating that artificial intelligence is becoming the core engine driving Baidu's future development. Apollo Go, as an important application of Baidu's AI technology in practical scenarios, its excellent performance undoubtedly provides strong support for this strategic transformation.
The success of Apollo Go is no accident. Behind it is Baidu's deep accumulation and continuous innovation in the field of autonomous driving technology. Currently, this service has not only achieved complete autonomous driving technology breakthroughs in mainland China, but has also expanded its business to 16 cities around the world, showing strong expansion momentum. In just the second quarter of 2023, Apollo Go completed more than 2.2 million trips, with the cumulative safe driving distance exceeding 170 million kilometers. This astonishing number is equivalent to circling the Earth's equator a total of 4,243 times.
Apollo Go's success in the fierce market competition can be attributed to several key factors. First of all, Baidu's long-term investment and deep accumulation in autonomous driving technology have built a solid technological moat for Apollo Go. Secondly, there is a significant advantage in controlling operating costs, especially the launch of the RT6 model, which successfully reduced the cost per vehicle to the lowest level globally, laying the foundation for large-scale profitability. In addition, Apollo Go's active global market layout has also played a crucial role, expanding service boundaries and revenue sources by cooperating with Uber to enter the Middle East market and working with Lyft to develop the European market.
The realization of a break-even point for a single vehicle in the Wuhan area holds epoch-making importance for both Baidu and the entire Robotaxi industry. This breakthrough not only verifies the feasibility of Apollo Go's business model, but more importantly, provides a reliable reference template for its rapid replication in other high-fare markets. With the continuous accumulation of operational experience and the ongoing improvement of technical capabilities, Apollo Go's commercialization process will surely become more smooth and efficient.
As autonomous driving technology becomes increasingly mature and market acceptance continues to rise steadily, Apollo Go is steadily advancing toward the goal of full profitability. This not only injects strong momentum into Baidu's long-term development strategy, but also sets a typical example of commercial success in the entire autonomous driving industry, giving more practitioners a glimpse of the bright prospects for technology monetization. In this era of change, Apollo Go's success story is writing a new chapter for the future of intelligent transportation.
