Only Apollo Go gives way to pedestrians in Wuhan, joke the city’s citizens. Unfortunately, the Baidu driverless taxis were not so good at giving way last week when one hit an e-bike rider running a red light.
Earlier this year, we reported on Baidu’s launch of its sixth generation robotaxi, the RT6, which costs less than a Xiaomi SU7. Plans call for 1,000 of the RT6 robotaxis to be deployed on the streets of Wuhan by the end of 2024. Currently, Apollo Go operates more than 500 robotaxis of varying generations on the streets of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province.
To say that the robotaxis of Wuhan are having a mixture of reactions is an understatement. The only comment on our previous article about the RT6 robotaxi was one complaining about traffic being clogged up on the streets of Wuhan due to the robotaxis. Many in Wuhan feel this way, and another area for complaint is from drivers who believe they are suffering financially because of them.
Taxi drivers are petitioning Wuhan to limit the use of Apollo Go. One operator said that four of its 159 drivers had quit since April. It’s believed that Apollo Go, at its peak, received an average of 20 orders per day per vehicle. China News Weekly quotes a Beijing ride-hailing driver as saying that these days, he usually gets 16 or 17 orders a day, but two or three years ago, 20 orders a day was not much.
Although there may be an issue with the robotaxi service charging less than regular ride-hailing services, the real issue is more likely the state of the economy. Robotaxis make up only around one percent of the taxi and ride-hailing fleet in Wuhan, so they alone cannot be the reason for falling driver income.
Wuhan’s robotaxis have so far accumulated more than 300 complaints on an official traffic management website. Many of those complaints are about the robotaxis causing an obstruction and being slow to react to events such as traffic lights. There have been many problems with robotaxis not being able to get into the correct lane, mainly due to their interaction with human drivers on the road. Luobo, as Apollo Go is known in Chinese, which means radish, has become synonymous in the Wuhan dialect with being stupid and naïve. A recent video that went viral on social media showed a robotaxi stuck because of a bag in the road which it saw as an obstruction, finally after pedestrians moved the bag the robotaxi slowly left.
Even regular users of the Apollo Go service in Wuhan say that robotaxis journeys take longer than with a human driver. China News Weekly quotes Liu Shuang as saying that one of the routes she takes would take an experienced driver 6 or 7 minutes but takes Apollo Go more than 10 minutes because the robotaxi prioritizes routes using main roads, which have more traffic lights. She also says that the driving is not as smooth and the robotaxis will often brake suddenly because of pedestrians or other obstacles.
Liu who initially tried the Apollo Go robotaxi out of curiosity with her child, has since used the service at least ten times within one month. One of the main reasons she has used it so many times is the price. On a five-kilometer route from her home to the cram school where her child has classes, the cost of a Didi (China’s Uber equivalent) is between 11 and 15 yuan (1.5 – 2 USD); however, using Apollo Go the cost is only 7.5 yuan (1 USD). Using discount vouchers, the fare is reduced even more and sometimes down to just 2.5 yuan (0.35 USD), whereas using vouchers, the Didi fare can be reduced down to 7.5 yuan (1 USD).
When the robotaxis started operating in Wuhan, a safety driver was sitting in the front passenger seat. All robotaxis in Wuhan only allow passengers in the rear seats with a plastic screen to prevent them from interfering with the operations of the robotaxi. The number of robotaxis operating on the streets of Wuhan without a safety driver is increasing, reaching a total of 70% in April, and it is expected to rise to all robotaxis by the end of the year.
No longer requiring a safety driver will be an obvious cost-saving for Apollo Go. Furthermore, Baidu claims that the sixth-generation robotaxi’s price has decreased significantly compared to previous generations. At the launch of the RT6 robotaxi, Baidu showed an official invoice which put the cost for a single taxi at 204,600 yuan (28,350 USD); this compares to around 480,000 yuan (66,100 USD) for the fifth generation. Apollo Go predicts that it will break even within the next year, currently the price of rides is subsidized and the company makes a loss.
Apollo Go’s service area in Wuhan covers 3,000 square kilometers and 3,378.73 km of actual roads. The catchment area is home to 7.7 million people, over half of Wuhan’s population. Although Apollo Go operates in other cities, Wuhan is currently the largest service area. Baidu has previously said that it plans to cover 100 cities with robotaxis by the end of the decade.
Sources: China News Weekly, Sohu, Xueqiu
