New Record for Baidu’s Robotaxi: Weekly Orders Exceed 350,000! Robin Li: Achieving Profitability in Single Cities

Baidu’s autonomous driving subsidiary, Apollo Go (also known as 萝卜快跑), has achieved a new milestone: weekly robotaxi orders exceeded 350,000, with a daily peak of 50,000 rides during March 2026. This translates to an average of 34 rides per minute. The company disclosed these figures alongside Baidu’s first-quarter 2026 financial results.

According to the report, Apollo Go completed 3.2 million fully driverless trips in Q1 2026, a year-over-year increase of approximately 129%. Cumulative robotaxi service orders have now surpassed 22 million rides, with total autonomous driving mileage exceeding 330 million kilometers, of which 220 million are fully driverless. Compared to the previous quarter (February 2026), the number of trips increased by 2 million in just two months, and fully driverless mileage added 30 million kilometers. The average ride distance during this period was about 15 kilometers, indicating a focus on medium-to-short trips such as commuting, inter-district travel, and airport or train station transfers.

Apollo Go now operates across 27 cities worldwide. Domestically, it covers Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Sichuan-Chongqing region, and parts of Hong Kong. Internationally, it has entered Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Seoul, and is currently conducting public road tests in Switzerland. In Dubai, Apollo Go launched its own dedicated ride-hailing app in March 2026, becoming the first and only self-driving service provider with an independent client in the region. Robin Li also revealed that the first batch of unmanned vehicles has arrived in London, UK, and will soon begin testing alongside Uber and Lyft.

In comparison, Waymo, another leading robotaxi player, disclosed that it operates in 11 cities globally and has reached 500,000 weekly fully autonomous trips. Both companies are expanding rapidly, signaling an intensifying competitive landscape.

Regarding profitability, Robin Li stated that Apollo Go has already achieved per-vehicle profit and loss balance in some core Chinese cities despite relatively low pricing. He noted that the operational and algorithmic systems developed in China have become mature and replicable, supporting expansion into right-hand drive markets like Hong Kong and London. Additionally, overseas markets generally offer higher pricing flexibility, suggesting better profitability potential as scale grows. However, Li emphasized that the autonomous mobility industry is still in an early stage, and the business model has not fully matured. Therefore, Apollo Go’s current strategic focus remains on expanding operational scale, strengthening core technology, and consolidating operational advantages.

Beyond regular robotaxi services, Apollo Go is exploring new applications. Robin Li disclosed a partnership with China Auto Rental (Shenzhou Zuche) to launch an autonomous vehicle rental service, deploying unmanned cars at Haikou Airport for passengers to use upon arrival.

Turning to Baidu’s overall performance, the company reported total revenue of 32.1 billion RMB in Q1 2026, a slight 2% decrease from the previous quarter. Notably, the revenue structure has undergone a significant transformation. Online marketing services, historically Baidu’s main revenue driver, generated 12.6 billion RMB, down 22% year-over-year and 17% quarter-over-quarter, accounting for only 48% of general business revenue (down from 63% a year ago). In contrast, other revenues dominated by intelligent cloud and AI services reached 13.4 billion RMB, up 42% year-over-year and 23% quarter-over-quarter, contributing 52% of total revenue for the first time.

Within Baidu’s core AI new business, revenue hit 13.6 billion RMB, a 49% year-over-year increase, representing over half (52%) of general business revenue. CFO He Haijian noted that general business revenue returned to positive growth at 2% year-over-year, while non-GAAP operating profit grew 39% quarter-over-quarter to 4 billion RMB, with operating cash flow remaining positive at 2.7 billion RMB.

The highlight of AI new business was smart cloud infrastructure, which generated 8.8 billion RMB in revenue, surging 79% year-over-year. GPU cloud revenue alone skyrocketed by 184%, reflecting surging demand for AI computing power. In contrast, AI application revenue was 2.5 billion RMB, roughly flat year-over-year. Baidu continues to advance in applications, releasing the universal agent DuMate in March, which can automatically perform complex cross-app and file operations, as well as a no-code programming platform “Miao 3.0” and a self-evolving agent Agent 2.0 that set new benchmarks in machine learning engineering tests.

On the marketing side, AI-native marketing service revenue reached 2.3 billion RMB in Q1, up 36% year-over-year, partially offsetting the decline in traditional advertising. Baidu App maintained 655 million monthly active users.

In terms of profits, Baidu’s Q1 operating profit was 3.2 billion RMB, with an operating margin of 10%. Net profit was 3.4 billion RMB, and non-GAAP net profit was 4.3 billion RMB, lower than the previous year but still healthy.

Overall, Baidu’s revenue growth engine has shifted in Q1 2026. Traditional business is undergoing steady adjustment, while AI new business is accelerating its takeover. Baidu is quietly entering a new growth phase, transforming from a search engine company into an AI-driven enterprise.