Baidu starts commercialization of self-driving taxis, former Shouqi Taxi CEO Wei Dong officially joins

Baidu Apollo announced today that Wei Dong, the former CEO of Shouqi Car-hailing, has officially joined the company as vice president of Baidu's Intelligent Driving Business Group and chief safety operations officer of Baidu's Intelligent Driving Business Group, specifically responsible for the commercial operations of Baidu Apollo's self-driving taxis.

Baidu's Apollo project was launched as early as 2013 and officially launched in 2017. Apollo is a software platform provided by Baidu to partners in the automotive industry and autonomous driving field. Its core product is Apollo Go, an autonomous taxi rental service.

On September 26, 2019, Baidu's self-driving taxi fleet Apollo Robotaxi started trial operation in Changsha; from October 11, 2020, Baidu's self-driving taxi service was open for reservation in Beijing. At present, Baidu's self-driving test mileage in the two places has exceeded 52,000 kilometers.

On April 7, 2021, 35 Apollo self-driving taxis manufactured by Baidu obtained commercial operation licenses and were officially opened on May 2 at the Shougang Park in Beijing.

91che believes that the hiring of Wei Dong represents Baidu's official launch of the commercialization process of self-driving taxis. Wei Dong previously served as vice president of China Auto Rental and CEO of Shouqi Taxi. During his tenure at Shouqi Taxi, he increased the scale of Shouqi Taxi from more than 500 vehicles in 2015 to 800,000 vehicles in 2019.

Baidu released data from the Shougang Park operation period after the May Day holiday: from May 2 to May 5, Baidu's self-driving taxis completed 848 orders in the Shougang Park in four days, receiving more than 1,500 passengers. In comparison, the American driverless taxi company Waymo receives about 1,500 passengers per month in Phoenix.

Baidu's internal research shows that if self-driving taxis want to be profitable, they must account for 20% of the local travel market. Baidu is undoubtedly the leader in the field of self-driving taxis in China, but as an emerging technology, self-driving taxis are far from popular. How to dispel public concerns about safety and other aspects and allow self-driving taxis to grab market share from the already mature online car-hailing market will be the first problem that Baidu and Wei Dong have to face and solve.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.