The verified answer
As of Oct 2026, DEPLOY verifies Baidu: 2 models, 7 deployments across 4 regions, $1.5B raised, 4 active incidents. 14 sources back the record.
Baidu holds 1 Regulatory filing, per the DEPLOY registry.
See all 1 filingsCategoryWearable AI
Overview
Chinese AI and internet company (NASDAQ: BIDU; HKEX: 9888) that operates Apollo Go, the largest autonomous ride-hailing (robotaxi) operation in the Eastern hemisphere by scale and ride volume. As of late 2025/early 2026, Apollo Go had surpassed 17 million cumulative rider orders and expanded to ~22 cities worldwide, including Wuhan, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Hong Kong domestically, plus international operations in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Baidu designs its own electric robotaxi vehicles (the sixth-generation Apollo RT6, built on its Apollo Galaxy / Xinghe self-driving platform, at ~204,600 RMB / ~$28,600 per vehicle, roughly half the prior generation's cost). Wuhan is its largest and flagship deployment (1,000+ vehicles), where Apollo Go reached per-vehicle profitability.
Baidu received China's first fully-driverless commercial robotaxi permits (Chongqing and Wuhan, August 2022). The company reports its driverless fleet averages ~10.14 million km between airbag deployments. Apollo Go has announced forward plans to scale to tens of thousands of vehicles across Chinese mega-cities and to expand into Europe (including a vehicle-supply agreement with Lyft, Aug 2025). Forward targets, not current deployments.
Verified record
- Verified deployments
- 7 deployments on file
- Active incidents
- 4 incidents on file
Valuation of record
DEPLOY VERIFIEDPriced roundApollo Pre-IPO Strategic Round post-money
Key facts
Structure
Service
Cumulative rides (Q3 2025)
Footprint
Flagship
Vehicle
Cumulative public rides (Apr 2026)
Q1 2026 ride volume
Autonomous distance
Driverless operations
wikidata
wikipedia
Data & sources
Company filings
2
Press releases
3
News coverage
1
Patent documents
4
Web sources
4
14 sources backing this record.View all →
Models (2)
View all models →Current platform
Xiaodu Pro AI Glasses
The Baidu Xiaodu Pro is a camera-and-audio AI glasses product with no display, marketed explicitly as not being AR glasses, made through Baidu's Xiaodu Technology subsidiary. At 39 grams with titanium hinges, a Sony 12-megapixel camera shooting 4K photos and 1440p30 video, a four-microphone array, and prescription-lens support in Boston and Cat-Eye styles, it is built around Baidu's ERNIE large language model for first-person ask-about-what-you-see question answering, object and calorie recognition, encyclopedia lookup, audio and visual translation, and reminders. It is recorded as a new model under the existing Baidu company, which also develops the Baidu Apollo autonomous-driving brain in the registry. Its shipping status resolves an open question: first announced at Baidu World 2024 and slated for the first half of 2025, it slipped before going on retail sale on November 11, 2025 as the Xiaodu Pro on JD.com and Tmall at 2,299 yuan, roughly $322, with next-day delivery, so it is genuinely shipping rather than announce-only, placing it at commercial maturity as the newest of the Wave 3 glasses with no independent sales figures yet. The AI is primary and genuine, marketed as the first native AI glasses powered by a Chinese large language model with the ERNIE-driven assistant as the headline rather than veneer, though cloud-dependent. The ERNIE on-device-versus-cloud split, real-world assistant quality, and sales volume are not verified, and the original 16-megapixel specification from the 2024 announcement was superseded by the shipping Sony 12-megapixel camera.
Current platform
Apollo RT6
Baidu's sixth-generation autonomous robotaxi, a purpose-built battery-electric vehicle (cross between an SUV and a minivan, with a detachable steering wheel) built on Baidu's Apollo Galaxy / Xinghe self-driving platform. Manufactured by Baidu without relying on a third-party automaker, at roughly 204,600 RMB (~$28,600) per vehicle, about half the cost of the prior generation. Powers Apollo Go's fully-driverless commercial ride-hailing service across Chinese cities and international markets.
Baidu on the deployment map
View the global map7 verified deployments across 4 regions, newest verified Mar 2026. Explore where Baidu's robots are operating, by place and type.
- operationalApollo RT6 at Dubai →Middle East · verified Mar 2026
- operationalXiaodu Pro AI Glasses at Global →International · verified Jun 2024
- operationalApollo RT6 at Abu Dhabi →Middle East · verified Jun 2024
- operationalApollo RT6 at Shenzhen →East Asia · verified Jan 2024
- operationalApollo RT6 at Beijing, China →East Asia · verified Dec 2022
- operationalApollo RT6 at Chongqing →verified Aug 2022
- pausedApollo RT6 at Wuhan, China →East Asia · verified Aug 2022
View the full Baidu deployment record →
Compare & explore
Deep analysis from DEPLOY
Relationships
Explainers
Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about Baidu, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.
What are the main Chinese robotaxi companies (Baidu Apollo Go, Pony AI, WeRide) and how do they compare to US operators?
What is the Apollo RT6?
Which is the fastest robotaxi?
Which robotaxi is safest?
Current leadership (2)
- Robin Li Co-founder, Chairman & CEOsecondary-verified
- Wang Yunpeng Corporate VP; President, Intelligent Driving Groupsecondary-verified
ArrivalsHaojun Wang from Pony AI, James Peng from Pony AI, Jennifer Li from WeRide, Liu Xianming from XPeng Robotics, Liu Xianming from Cruise, Tiancheng Lou from Pony AI +1 more
DeparturesHaojun Wang to Pony AI, James Peng to Pony AI, Jennifer Li to WeRide, Liu Xianming to XPeng Robotics, Liu Xianming to Cruise, Tiancheng Lou to Pony AI +1 more
Founders (1)
- Robin Licofounderfounded 2000-01-01
later founded Baidu Apollo
Former / Previously (10)
- Liu Xianming Researcher (former)reported, not verified
- James Peng Chief Architect, AV unitsecondary-verified
- Tiancheng Lou Principal Engineersecondary-verified
- Haojun Wang Software architectsecondary-verified
- Tony Han Chief Scientist, AV unitsecondary-verified
- Jennifer Li Strategic investment directorsecondary-verified
- Dr. Zhang Tianlei Founding member of Baidu autonomous driving teamsecondary-verified
- Li Zhenyu President of Intelligent Driving Group (Apollo)reported, not verified
- Zhu Lei (朱磊) Autonomous Driving Engineer (Apollo)secondary-verified
- He Jiabin Interface Designer, Learning Labsecondary-verified
Safety record
4 incidents on record (3 serious, 1 moderate). Most recent: Apr 2026.
Most recent: Apr 2026
Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →
Incidents affecting Baidu (4)
- China suspended new robotaxi/AV permits nationwide after the Apollo Go Wuhan outage2026-04-29 · Regulatory action
- Apollo Go robotaxis in Wuhan stranded passengers in service-wide malfunction2026-03-31 · Malfunction
via Apollo RT6 at Wuhan, China
Includes incidents linked directly to this company, to its models, or to deployments of its models or under its operation. Retracted incidents are excluded from this view but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.
Operator customers (1)
- Baidu7 deployments
Brains developed (1)
- Apollo ADFM (Baidu)foundation-model · commercial
Insurers & financiers (1)
- Swiss Reinsures · reinsurer
Recent coverage
Baidu in third-party press
Peers
126 peers across 3 segments. Every Baidu competitor derived from shared form-factor and application-domain edges.
av(88)
57 companies in this segment · highly_concentrated (HHI 4969.122215850638) · leader Waymo at 6990%
- Aurora Innovationdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- AutoXdirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Avridedirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Bot Autodirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Caterpillardirect competitor(inferred)strong
- Cruisedirect competitor(inferred)strong
wearable(35)
32 companies in this segment · highly_concentrated (HHI 2595.3892239124602) · leader Oculus VR at 4361%
- Based Hardwaredirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Beedirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Brilliant Labsdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Dexcomdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Embla Medical hfdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
- Esper Bionicsdirect competitor(inferred)moderate
Mentioned on (36)
Registry pages whose text names Baidu.
Companies (4)
Robots and products (5)
King Long Bus, White Rhino Delivery Vehicle, Apollo RT6, Xiaodu Pro AI Glasses, Didi Robotaxi
AI systems (1)
Deployments (7)
Apollo RT6 at Chongqing, Apollo RT6 at Beijing, China, Apollo RT6 at Abu Dhabi, Apollo RT6 at Dubai, Apollo RT6 at Wuhan, China, Apollo RT6 at Shenzhen, Xiaodu Pro AI Glasses at Global
Supplied by (4)
Sensors
- Velodyne LiDARcompany-levelVelodyne Alpha Prime (VLS-128) long-range LiDAR -- three-year sales agreement with Baidu (2020)supplies
- Hesai Technologycompany-levelFour Hesai AT128 ultra-long-range (>200m) lidars per vehicle - exclusive long-range lidar provider for Baidu Apollo Go gen-6 robotaxi (~$300M deal, Jul 2024)supplies
- Hesai Technologyvia Apollo RT6Hesai AT128 long-range LiDAR (4x per vehicle; exclusive long-range LiDAR supplier for Baidu Apollo RT6 next-generation robotaxis; specific SKU variant and config per Hesai press 2024-07-18)supplies
- RoboSense Technology Co., Ltd.company-levelEM4 main LiDAR + E1 solid-state blind-spot LiDAR (exclusive factory design win)suppliesannounced
Inbound supply edges feeding this company directly or via the models it owns. Same source bar as the outbound view (verified against at least two strong sources).
Financial state
- Total funding
- $1.5B
- Reporting basis
- aggregator_estimate
- Lifecycle stage
- mature
- Counterparty risk class
- low
Each numeric field carries its own basis marker. Aggregators report a number; this surface preserves the source class so verification depth travels with the value.
Funding rounds (1)
- Apollo Pre-IPO Strategic Round2021-10-27
$1.5B(reported) · $12.0B post
Investors: IDG Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2
Regulatory filings (1)
- otherother · otheractivereported
Linked models: Apollo RT6
Patent estate (4)
- US20210339772A1usptopendingassignee
- US10762441B2usptograntedgranted 2020-09-01assignee
- US12164310B2usptopendingassignee
- US20200257317A1usptopendingassignee
Timeline
Every recorded move in Baidu’s history, most recent first: funding rounds, partnerships, acquisitions, supply-chain starts, key hires, and press.
DepartureTony Han departs
2026-08-23Tony Han left to join WeRide
ArrivalTony Han joins
2026-08-23Tony Han joined from WeRide
DepartureTiancheng Lou departs
2026-08-23Tiancheng Lou left to join Pony AI
ArrivalTiancheng Lou joins
2026-08-23Tiancheng Lou joined from Pony AI
DepartureLiu Xianming departs
2026-08-23Liu Xianming left to join Cruise
DepartureLiu Xianming departs
2026-08-23Liu Xianming left to join XPeng Robotics
ArrivalLiu Xianming joins
2026-08-23Liu Xianming joined from Cruise
ArrivalLiu Xianming joins
2026-08-23Liu Xianming joined from XPeng Robotics
Recent activity
Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.
- Verified media addedVerifiedJul 26, 2026
Apollo RT6 photo
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 8, 2026
Meet Apollo Moon, Baidu's New-Gen Robotaxi
- Verified media addedVerifiedJun 5, 2026
Baidu Apollo RT6 robotaxi
- Record createdMay 26, 2026
Added to the verified registry
- Incident recordedApr 29, 2026
China suspended new robotaxi/AV permits nationwide after the Apollo Go Wuhan outage
Sources (10)
- Apollo Go 1,000+ vehicles in Wuhan (largest China deployment), per-vehicle profitability · https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/20/global-robotaxi-race-heats-up-between-us-and-chinese-rivals.html · 2025-11-20
- Baidu robotaxi: permits, RT6, Apollo Galaxy platform, Lyft agreement, city history · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baidu_robotaxi · 2026-01-05
- Baidu Q1 2026 earnings (6-K Ex-99.1): Apollo Go public rides >22M (as of Apr 2026); 3.2M fully-driverless rides in Q1 (+120% YoY, weekly peak >350k); >330M autonomous km (>220M driverless) · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1329099/000119312526228123/d156481dex991.htm · 2026-05-18
- Baidu Q3 2025 earnings (6-K Ex-99.1): Apollo Go 100% fully-driverless in all mainland-China operating cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Haikou, Sanya) · https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1329099/000119312525285391/d52736dex991.htm · 2025-11-18
- https://ir.baidu.com/news-releases/news-release-details/baidu-announces-third-quarter-2025-results
- https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/baidus-apollo-launches-worlds-first-foundation-model-supporting-l4-autonomous-driving
- https://apollo.auto/
- https://cnevpost.com/2026/01/15/baidu-apollo-go-robotaxi-operations-20-cities-china/
- https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/baidu-unveils-next-gen-autonomous-vehicle-ready-to-provide-driverless-robotaxi-half-of-taxi-fares-301590644.html
- https://cnevpost.com/2024/05/15/baidu-apollo-launches-6th-gen-robotaxi/
Common questions
What is Baidu?
What does Baidu make?
Is Baidu publicly traded?
Who competes with Baidu?
Who is the CEO of Baidu?
How can I invest in Baidu?
Where is Baidu headquartered?
How much funding has Baidu raised?
Who owns Baidu?
Where does Baidu operate robots?
How many robots has Baidu deployed?
Is Baidu a top robotics company?
When was Baidu founded?
Are there any incidents involving Baidu?
Is Baidu safe?
Methodology: Verified · 10 sources (5 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-21
Verification posture
Verified
High confidence
Review state
Stable
Last reviewed 2026-08-21
Sources by quality tier
- 3
- primary-company-ir
- Company IR disclosure
- 3
- unclassified
- Unclassified source
- 2
- primary-sec-filing
- SEC filing
- 1
- secondary-established-publication
- Established publication
- 1
- knowledge-base
- Knowledge base
The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.
Methodology surface for Baidu.Peer companies
- Earendil Robotics4 models
- Tesla4 models
- Waymo4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Bee3 models
- Nuro3 models
In the press
Recent coverage mentioning Baidu from third-party publications. Automatically surfaced; not part of the verified registry record.
Baidu’s Global AI Push Takes Shape in Kooko, Built Around Deliverables
Editor’s note: This article was written by Lucia, a TechNode reporter. On September 21, at the Baidu AI Day open event, Baidu announced plans to accelerate the overseas expansion…
Baidu to rename Baijiahao app as Baidu Live Companion on Sept. 22
Baidu will rename its Baijiahao app as Baidu Live Companion on Sept. 22, shifting the app’s focus toward livestreaming. User accounts, historical content and accumulated earnings…
This AI ETF Is Missing the Biggest AI Winners
The Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) has fallen more than 8% over five years due to heavy industrial automation exposure, concentration risk, and weak…
Hong Kong Stock Thousand Baidu Releases Impressive Half-Year Report, AI Business Growth Momentum Unleashed
Thousand Baidu, a long-standing footwear company, experienced a significant turning point in the first half of 2026. Despite a year-on-year...
Baidu Just Gained Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Connect Access. Is It Now a Better AI Bet Than Alibaba?
Baidu’s Xiaodu schedules AI hardware launch for Sept. 8
Baidu’s smart-device business Xiaodu will unveil new hardware at a product event on Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. Beijing time. The lineup includes smart displays, Tiantian companion screens,…
Baidu CFO says AI could soon match search business in profit and cash returns
Baidu CFO Henry He said the company’s AI businesses could soon generate profits and cash returns comparable to its legacy search business. AI-related revenue, spanning cloud…
Baidu’s AI Profits to Match Those From Search Soon, CFO Says
Baidu Inc.’s finance chief said the company’s investment in AI could soon generate profits and cash payback on par with those of its legacy search business, justifying a…
Baidu completes dual-primary listing in Hong Kong and Nasdaq
Baidu’s conversion from a secondary listing in Hong Kong to a dual-primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and Nasdaq took effect on Sept. 1. The company’s Hong…
Baidu CFO Henry He on HK Primary Listing
Henry He, CFO at Baidu, speaks on "Bloomberg: The China Show" as the Chinese tech firm becomes dual-primary listed on both HKEX and Nasdaq. (Source: Bloomberg)
Baidu Cloud reportedly separates its AI agent and MaaS businesses
Baidu Cloud has reportedly reorganized its platform product division, renaming it the intelligent-agent division while moving its model-as-a-service and Qianfan businesses to a…
Baidu launches DuMateBench benchmark for real-world AI agent delivery
Baidu has launched DuMateBench, an evaluation leaderboard designed to measure whether AI agents can complete real-world tasks and deliver usable outputs, rather than only generate…
Machine-readable surfaces
- Markdown mirror: /companies/baidu.md
- RSS feed: /companies/baidu/feed.xml
- JSON-LD: embedded in this page’s head
- REST API: /v1/companies/fdcac873-0717-44c1-af7b-90b2648fb567
- Revision history: /companies/baidu/history
- Data documentation: /data
- Query this programmatically: Deploy MCP
Peer companies
- Earendil Robotics4 models
- Tesla4 models
- Waymo4 models
- Aurora Innovation3 models
- Bee3 models
- Nuro3 models
Video
An autonomous vehicle operated by Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi service fell into a deep construction pit while carrying a passenger in China's Chongqing The femal
The Australian's North Asia Correspondent, Will Glasgow, experiences Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi in Wuhan, one of China's largest cities. With nearly 400 self-dr
A look into the happenings of the Machine Learning world. OUTLINE: 0:00 - Intro 0:25 - Facebook AI trains rapidly adapting robots 3:05 - Baidu presents autonom
- Introducing ERNIE from Baidu, which has just been integrated into the Walker S AI robot to do several intelligent tasks, but will it stand up to its competito
100 Baidu Robotaxis Suddenly Stop in Busy Wuhan Roads – Major Blow to Driverless Tech Imagine getting into a driverless robotaxi and the car suddenly stops dea
✳️ Saw the world through my lens? Now read the story behind it. Lens on the Dragon: An American Expat’s True Story of Life, YouTube, and Fallout in China, is no
Tu Le, founder and managing director of Sino Auto Insights, says that the robotaxi business is a lynchpin in Baidu's efforts to pivot towards being known as an
How we decide to utilize and interact with #AI will be one of the things that shapes the future of humanity. Take a tour of Baidu with #Xiaodu robot for a wind
Chinese internet giant Baidu will be investing aggressively in artificial intelligence-based finance, cloud services, as well as a system named DuerOS, which al
JIDU has stepped a challenging move for inventing drivable robot. A brand new promising driving experience would be expected. Welcome to ChinaNEVNews! 🚗🔋💡 T
...Source: https://cnevpost.com/2025/10/22/baidu-apollo-go-robotaxis-switzerland/ Transcript: China EV Post is reporting that Baidu is teaming up with Swiss pub
Couldn't catch Baidu Create 2026 this year? Come along as we explore our newest AI products at our exhibition, including a DuMate-powered robot that holds its o
What happens when Chinese tech giant Baidu and leading automaker Geely come together? Check out the video to find out!
Artificial intelligence is powering the future at Baidu Create 2019! The GeekWire Studios team is on-location in Beijing, China talking to experts in neural net
China’s Baidu unveils autonomous driving ‘robot truck’ Xingtu Baidu’s open-source autonomous driving platform Apollo has spawned Xingtu, an electric “robot truc
Heat Index
Category contender85/100
A composite of competitive footprint, funding, press velocity, active partnerships, and supply-chain edges. Different from the Intelligence score below (which is per-form-factor productization). Non-robotics companies cap at 25.
Reality vs attention
Baidu draws attention at the 80th percentile but verifies reality at the 98th percentile among wearable robots. Hype Gap -18.2, 26th widest among wearable robots.
6-month trend
Analysis
Meaningful press and media coverage across the period. Strong deployment footprint with 6 operational sites across 7 countries. 5 incidents on record.
Signal flags
Dimension breakdown
Verified signal
Attention (reach, not merit)
DEPLOY Intelligence scores are computed from verified registry data: confirmed deployments, disclosed funding rounds, regulatory filings, active job listings, video viewership, and press coverage. Confidence ratings reflect data availability. Scores update nightly.
DEPLOY Indices — verified vs claimed
Last computed: Oct 11, 2026