On July 10, Baidu Group-SW (09888.HK) opened nearly 8% higher and was trading at HK$95.9 as of press time, an increase of 11.12%. The turnover exceeded HK$400 million in less than 5 minutes after the opening.

(Source: uSMART)

On July 9, Baidu (BIDU.US) surged, with a closing price of 95.4 yuan, an increase of 8.47%, achieving the largest single-day increase in half a year.

(Source: uSMART)

On the news, Guotai Junan pointed out in a research report on July 10 that Luobo Kuaipao’s driverless online ride-hailing business model is expected to be profitable. Luobo Kuaipao is Baidu's self-driving travel service platform. It has opened manned test operation services in 11 cities in mainland China, and has launched fully driverless self-driving travel service tests in Beijing, Wuhan, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Shanghai.

The financial report shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Luobo Kuaipao supplied approximately 826,000 autonomous driving orders, a year-on-year increase of 25%. As of April 19, 2024, Luobo Kuaipao has provided more than 6 million autonomous driving travel service orders to the public. During the earnings call, Baidu Chairman and CEO Robin Li said that the proportion of fully driverless orders in Wuhan exceeded 55% in the first quarter, and continued to rise to 70% in April, and is expected to rise rapidly in the next few quarters. 100%.

"Carrot Run" plans to achieve full coverage of Wuhan in 2024, and plans to put 1,000 sixth-generation mass-produced unmanned vehicles into operation. Guotai Junan Securities believes that driverless online ride-hailing is cheaper and has a better passenger experience than the manned version. With the increase in launch volume, the operating cost of bicycles is expected to decrease, and the scale effect is expected to be reflected. According to forecasts, the platform is expected to break even in Wuhan by the end of 2024 and become profitable in 2025.

Tesla may release Robotaxi on August 8, which may further catalyze the development of the industry. Autonomous driving is expected to become the main line of the market in the next three months.

Autonomous driving still has problemsAlthough autonomous driving technology has made significant progress in recent years, it still faces a series of complex problems and challenges.●Technological maturity: Although autonomous driving technology has made great progress, it is still a certain distance away from complete automation (that is, fully autonomous driving without human intervention). Sensor accuracy, data processing capabilities, and algorithm reliability all need to be further improved.●Safety: Although autonomous driving systems can reduce human error, their own faults or vulnerabilities can lead to serious accidents. How to ensure a high degree of security and reliability of the system is a major challenge.●Ethical issues: How self-driving cars make decisions when faced with unavoidable accident scenarios is a complex ethical issue. How does the system balance the safety of passengers and pedestrians in inevitable collisions?●Data privacy: Self-driving cars require a large amount of sensors and data, involving a large amount of personal privacy data. How to protect this data from misuse or leakage is an important issue.●Employment impact: The widespread application of autonomous driving technology may have a huge economic impact on certain industries (such as transportation, taxi services, etc.) and cause employment problems.

On the afternoon of July 7, a Wuhan netizen posted a video on a short video platform, saying that a self-driving taxi operated by Baidu's self-driving travel service platform "Luobo Kuaipao" collided with pedestrians on the streets of Wuhan. In the video, a group of people can be seen lying on the ground. In front of the taxi, traffic police were at the scene, and the accident caused some traffic jams.Baidu sources told China Business News that the accident occurred at the intersection of Parrot Avenue and Guobo Avenue in Hanyang District. The vehicle had slight contact with a person who ran a red light when the green light turned on. "After the accident, our company immediately cooperated with the police and accompanied him to the hospital for examination. After examination, there was no obvious trauma. He is currently in the hospital for further observation and rest."

This self-driving traffic accident not only emphasized the importance of traffic rules, but also revealed the challenges of self-driving technology in complex traffic environments, as well as the importance of safe response and accident handling.

Baidu Chairman Robin Li was interviewed by China Business News. When talking about AGI, he gave the example of autonomous driving: "We have been doing autonomous driving for 11 years, and we still cannot say that this technology is mature. This is still a special scenario. AI I can’t be very mature.”