Gary Black Calls Tesla Rival Baidu's Apollo Go 'Autonomous Ride Hailing Leader' Following Eleven Million Paid Robotaxi Rides Milestone
Gary Black, Managing Director of Future Fund LLC, praised Baidu's Apollo Go as the "world's autonomous ride-hailing leader" after it achieved 11 million paid rides. He noted its expansion into Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and highlighted Baidu's growth in the autonomous taxi market. Baidu CEO Robin Li emphasized their leadership with over 1,000 driverless vehicles deployed globally. In comparison, Waymo recently reached 10 million paid rides, showcasing the competitive landscape in autonomous ride-hailing services.
Future Fund LLC's Managing Director, Gary Black, called Baidu Inc.'s BIDU autonomous taxi service, Apollo Go, the "world's autonomous ride-hailing leader" as it reached the eleven million paid rides milestone.
What Happened: "$BIDU‘s Apollo Go autonomous ride hailing business has now completed 11 million paid autonomous rides," Black said in a post on social media platform X on Wednesday.
Black then set the context and drew parallels with services like Alphabet Inc.'s GOOGL GOOG Waymo and Tesla Inc. TSLA. "In 1Q, Apollo Go expanded its driverless ride-hailing business into Dubai and Abu Dhabi," he said, highlighting the company's growth.
He also shared updates from the company's Q1 earnings release and how Apollo will provide fully autonomous rental services in China. The company also completed 1.4 million rides in Q1 2025.
Why It Matters: The news comes in as Baidu CEO Robin Li touted the Apollo Go's robotaxi prowess at the company's earnings call. With the Dubai and Abu Dhabi expansion, the service operates in over 15 cities globally.
"With over 1,000 fully driverless vehicles now deployed globally, we continue to solidify our position as the world's leading autonomous ride-hailing service provider," Li shared at the earnings call.
Elsewhere, Waymo recently announced it reached the ten million paid autonomous rides mark, doubling its total in a period of 5 months. The figure includes rides from cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin.
Waymo has had a substantial lead over rivals like Tesla and Amazon.com Inc.'s AMZN Zoox, as the company had also previously shared it reached 250,000 weekly rides.
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