Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) stated on Wednesday that it expects its robotaxi business, Apollo Go, to break even next year. The Chinese tech giant is a key player in China’s robotaxi market and received permission to start charging fares in the Beijing district in November 2021. Baidu and the startup Pony.ai were allowed to charge fares for driverless robotaxi rides in Beijing from September of last year.
Baidu’s Apollo Go Robotaxi Business
The company’s Apollo Go robotaxi service operated around 839,000 rides in the last three months of 2023. Baidu also operates its taxi service in Wuhan and in the December quarter of 2023, 45% of its orders were driverless in Wuhan, up from 40% in the same quarter of 2022. This year, the company aims to deploy 1,000 driverless robotaxis in Wuhan.
In addition to this, Baidu is focused on making its robotaxis cheaper and announced on Wednesday that Apollo’s sixth generation robotaxi will be priced at RMB200,000 ($28,169). This price is less than half of the robotaxis of the prior generation.
Separately, Baidu is expected to announce its results for the March quarter on May 16.
What Is the Future of BIDU Stock?
Analysts remain bullish about BIDU stock, with a Strong Buy consensus rating based on a unanimous 14 Buys. Over the past year, BIDU has declined by more than 10%, and the average BIDU price target of $155.80 implies an upside potential of 42.2% from current levels.
