Baidu shares surge on growth prospects of robotaxi business

Baidu’s shares surged 10.1% to HK$ 95.05 ($12.17) on Wednesday in Hong Kong, its highest price in the past month, after a mainland Chinese taxi fleet operator publicly complained about the company’s autonomous ride-hailing cars becoming a threat to its human taxi drivers. Four taxi drivers at Wuhan Jianshe Automobile Passenger Transport Co., Ltd. have suspended services since April and more are facing a significant reduction in salary, the company said in a letter sent to local authorities on June 20 and circulated on Chinese social networks this week.

The taxi firm blamed a sprawling expansion of Baidu’s autonomous cars, while multiple taxi drivers told media outlet CLS that it had become difficult to get fares in areas of the city where the internet giant had deployed large numbers of its robotaxis. Baidu said in May that its robotaxi service, known as Apollo Go (or Luobo Kuaipao in Chinese) and launched in 2021, had provided 6 million rides as of April 19, while it was aiming for the business to turn a profit by 2025, TechNode reported. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has previously announced that the company will unveil its robotaxi design on August 8, as competition in the sector heats up. [TechNode reporting, CLS, in Chinese]