The status of Baidu driverless taxis as an insider said.
- Taxis are currently in operation for 4th and 5th generations. The cost of a car includes 250,000 yuan for a fifth generation and 10,000 yuan for a LiDAR sensor. The cost is six times lower than that of Waymo.
- Until the 5th generation, LIDAR equipment is installed in the finished car (ARCFOX) afterwards, and manual calibration is required every day after operation, resulting in a lot of labor costs. From the 6th generation (Jiyue), LIDAR is installed as standard, so no calibration is required every day. For the 6th generation, the goal is 200,000 yuan.
- The remote control personnel are currently managing 40 units per person, and in fact, more on-site safety personnel are on duty, one safety personnel must be on standby within a 2km radius of an unmanned taxi, and many customers are not closing their doors.
- The profit and loss achievement announced by Baidu Apollo simply calculated the operating costs of its subsidiaries and did not include the huge previously invested development costs.
- Actually, Baidu is a big tech that sells drugs (similar to making easy money from search engines), so it is the first time that Baidu is selling cabbage (hard production + taxi operation) like this. Many executives and employees are tired of hard work that they have never experienced. In fact, Baidu has been dissatisfied with the huge investment in driverless taxis for several years, but he is pushing ahead with the plan, considering it as his last chance to do so. Even if he fails, he should know why and fail.
- The biggest problem that insiders think is the mechanical lidar. This is a 5-year depreciation accounting for the 24-hour operation, but it is questionable whether it will actually last two years. This is the biggest problem that cannot keep up with Tesla.
- The second problem is HD mapping. If there is a slight error, it is very difficult to expand the new city because it has to be done again, and the investment cost is high because it has to be continuously supplemented when changing the city road.
- Tesla Former FSD Engineer Thought:
The launch of the Tesla robotaxi will take place in the U.S. China has too many variables to make a profit. The U.S., on the other hand, is a market that can sweep up money.
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