The domestic unmanned commercialization policy has continued to land, and Baidu is looking forward to building cars?

Produced ｜ Pai Finance

Text ｜ Rolly Editor ｜ Edit Son

Recently, news about Baidu's car building on the market has risen one after another.

On August 8th, at the first car robot ecological partner conference, Baidu founder, chairman and chief executive officer Li Yanhong publicly called: "In terms of autonomous driving technology, the collection will lead the leading Tesla generation."

A few days ago, Jacheng Automobile was exposed to new financing news. According to people familiar with the matter, Jiji Automobile is currently looking for $ 300 million to $ 400 million in financing for about 3.5 billion US dollars.

Earlier, a change in industrial and commercial changes in Jiga Automobile had just been questioned by the outside world. Geely left the scene on the eve of mass production. After the official public response, this change was interpreted for listing and introducing other social capital to prepare.

It is understood that Jiji Motors was jointly established by Baidu and Geely in early 2021, while the starting funds of 2 billion yuan were mainly from Baidu. In addition to collecting cars, another car -building Baidu drone also has new developments. In mid -July, Baidu released the sixth -generation drone Apollo RT6.

Data show that Baidu's annual investment in smart car research and development is more than 20 billion yuan. Intelligent transportation and autonomous driving have become an important money burning project of Baidu, but in contrast, these two projects have severe hematopoietic. How much money does it cost and how long it takes to wait to see the return, it is unknown.

At the first quarter of 2022, Li Yanhong bluntly said that Baidu is now facing difficulties. Under difficulties, Baidu's continuous investment in the field of car construction may accelerate "blood loss".

1. The "car robot" with a price of more than 300,000, the desire is not fast

Two months ago, the first brand launch conference was held in the Yuan universe, and the first car robot concept car Robo-01 was officially released.

In terms of the design of this model, the collection proposes the concept of "car robot" for the first time. Adhering to the design concept of "LESS is more", the collection Robo-01 eliminates complex components such as door handles, shift levers, and left and right levers. On the side window, the main and co -pilot adopts the butterfly wing door, the back row adopts the open door design, and the B pillar is also canceled.

But under minimalism, this body does not have B -pillar, which has caused controversy.

The so -called B -pillar refers to the columns between the front and rear doors of the car. On the top of the floor, the floor is connected to the floor. When the vehicle is hit from the side, the B -pillar can play a role in protecting the personnel in the car. "Without B -pillar, there is no support. In the worst case, the rollover will become a big cake directly."

However, the so -called speed is not to reach. Although the set exceeds most of the manufacturers in the average new car construction time, the design cannot be avoided in design. There is no uniqueness in design, and the market's evaluation of ROBO-01 is generally not high.

In the design of the collection, you can see the figures of Nezha, Byton, Gaohe, and Xiaopeng P7 at the same time. Gaohecolf said publicly that it should be called "jealousy."

Another highlight of Robo-01 is the lidar that can be lifted. The ideal car CEO Li Xiang also questioned on Weibo that the lifting speed of this radar can avoid pedestrian collisions.

It is understood that the first mass production model that is about to release is 90%similar to the ROBO-01 concept car. Xia Yiping, a collection CEO, revealed that the limited edition of the first car robot mass production model is expected to be officially delivered in the second half of 2023; the appearance design of its second model will be unveiled at the Guangzhou Auto Show at the end of 2022. It is expected to be at 2024. Start delivery of the year.

In terms of intelligent system installation, the set will be the first car company equipped with Qualcomm 8295 chips. At present, the most mass -produced vehicle models are the flagship chip SA8155P (referred to as 8155 chips), while the 8295 chip has increased by 7.5 times compared to the 8155 chip in AI computing power.

Regarding the positioning and pricing of the first car, Li Yanhong revealed at the financial report that the product pricing would be around 200,000 yuan. However, at the recent media meeting, Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiji Car, clarified. He said that Li Yanhong's original means that it means more than 200,000 yuan. After all, the cost of this car is set here.

Regarding the positioning of the first mass -producing vehicle, Xia Yiping clearly claims it with Tesla Model Y, and it may also involve the market of Weilai EC6 and ES6. The price range of Model Y is between 300,000 and 400,000, while the prices of Weilai EC6 and ES6 are also above 300,000.

It is conceivable that the pricing of the first mass -produced car should not be less than 300,000.

2. On the eve of mass production, Geely withdrew from social capital?

After being exposed to find financing, the more specific financing path is gradually clear.

People familiar with the matter said that in Series A financing, collecting cars seeks a valuation of about $ 2 billion. After the completion of the A financing, Jiji Motors has accelerated the process of R & D and mass production. The production models are planned to be listed in 2023. The insider also said that the discussion with external investors is still in the initial stage, and the details of the valuation of the car and the scale of financing of the car may still change in the future. In this regard, the representatives of Baidu, Geely and Jiji have not yet commented.

On June 30, Jiga Motor established a holding company in Hong Kong to control the two physical companies located in mainland China -Beijing Jishi Technology Co., Ltd. and Shanghai Jiqi Co., Ltd.. On the same day, Jiji Motor also came out of the news that it would be prepared for the next capital operation. The red -chip architecture is a listing method for domestic companies in mainland China to avoid the restrictions on the approval of foreign investment and equity liquidity. By setting up an offshore company abroad, then injecting or transferring the assets of domestic companies to The company's listing of financing overseas.

For the new forces of vehicles, it is a common demand for landing in the capital market, as well as the collection as one of the new forces.

Baidu was the earliest unmanned manufacturer to enter the bureau. As early as 2013, Baidu began to lay out unmanned driving. It has taken a lot of detours on technology and landing.

After ten years of driverless technology, Baidu landed the first product. The mass production of collecting cars was equipped with the mission of the large -scale market promotion of Baidu unmanned technology and smart cockpit technology.

At the beginning of the establishment of Jacao Automobile, the market was generally optimistic. As a header of the Internet, Baidu has deep accumulation in the field of artificial intelligence. Geely is one of the powerful private car brands. It has rich experience in the field of automobile manufacturing, and the two have formed a high degree of complementarity.

Established on January 11, 2021, the joint venture between Baidu and Geely Holdings Group held 55%and 45%of the two parties.

The advantage of Baidu is that there is a technical accumulation of autonomous driving, smart cockpit, high -precision maps, and road collaboration with all things; Geely's advantage is to have the landing plan for car manufacturing, including the vast car construction technology platform, as well as large -scale procurement, and large -scale procurement, and large -scale procurement, and large -scale procurement. Standardized production system.

However, the cooperation between the two seems to be strong and united. From the outside world, Geely's presence is not strong, and it is more like Baidu's backdoor car. Some offline users said that "the shadow of Geely could not be seen on the collection of Robo-01."

Jacking Motors is known for its "fast". Under the blessing of Geely, Baidu, which has been technically exploring for ten years, was used for ten years. In just 15 months, the concept car landed.

However, on the eve of mass production, Geely introduced news. At the end of June, a Geely Holdings affiliated company withdrew from the shareholders industry. At the same time, the original Geely related personnel in the centralized executive layer also stepped down. In this regard, the official response is that the shareholding ratio of Baidu and Geely will not change, and Geely will arrange a new main access set.

On August 8th, at the conference of the first car robot ecological partner, Li Yanhong mentioned in the video that his judgment on smart cars was that electrification was midfielder and intelligence was the final.

Regarding "intelligent", Geely is not yet to be seen. Li Shufu, chairman of Geely, has publicly expressed: "Internet companies make cars, often have concepts, then develop operating systems, plus the hardware of foundries. This matter is too simple. "

Shortly after the industrial and commercial changes, Geely announced the news of the acquisition of Meizu mobile phones. Li Shufu said, "it is necessary to achieve car machine collaboration through the layout of the mobile phone business." This action once again caused the outside world's conjecture on Baidu and Geely.

According to the Economic and Economics, as of press time, Tianyancha APP data showed that 100%of the equity of collecting cars was in the hands of Baidu.

However, it can be determined that the collection will be introduced to social capital. Earlier, Xia Yiping also confirmed this in an exclusive interview with the reporter of "Finance". He said that after the first car landing, it will basically launch a model every 1 year to 1.5 years. It is estimated that it will be within five years. The investment is about 50 billion yuan, and social capital will join.

3. Commercialization of unmanned driving, happy and worrying

For a long time, Baidu is drunk with the research and development of unmanned driving technology, but this set of Baidu full -stack autonomous driving technology has not been used in the first commercial mass production model.

It is understood that Jiji Motors uses the technology based on Apollo's core capabilities for secondary depth development, which also reveals the embarrassing situation of Baidu's autonomous driving technology. Because there are still some inexplicable extreme Corner Case (long -tail scenes that are difficult to solve in technology ), Their own mass -produced vehicles are still uncomfortable, so far no car companies are willing to invest large -scale investment.

Undoubtedly, Baidu's accumulation in unmanned driving technology has absolute advantages. When the new energy manufacturers are still in the PPT car construction stage, Baidu's driverless test vehicle has already entered the Beijing Fifth Ring Road. However, it is limited by the problem of landing policies and technical adaptability, and it has always been difficult to complete large -scale commercialization.

Beginning in 2019, Baidu has cooperated with the two major car companies with FAW Hongqi and BAIC Fox to produce self -driving unmanned vehicles. In June 2021, Baidu first disclosed the cost price of the fifth -generation Apollo Moon for the first time.

One year later, at the Baidu World Conference in 2022, Li Yanhong officially released the Baidu's sixth -generation unmanned vehicle Apollo RT6 with a cost price of only 250,000 yuan. This unmanned car is independently developed by Baidu and supports two modes: steering wheel and no steering wheel. It compresses half of the fifth -generation models in cooperation with BAIC Fox Automobile a year ago.

Li Yanhong mentioned at the meeting that Baidu's cost of self -driving cars was reduced to one -tenth of the industry, equivalent to the price of an ordinary new energy vehicle. The sharp decline in the cost of driverless cars means that Baidu can deploy tens of thousands of cars like such cars throughout the country. In the future, unmanned cars are half cheaper than now taking a taxi. The advantage of "half cheaper than now" is mainly reflected in the reduction of operating costs. Wang Yunpeng, Vice President of Baidu and General Manager of the Autonomous Driving Division, had calculated a account to the media. Based on the 5 -year operating cycle, taking first -tier cities as an example, the monthly cost of the online car driver was 8,000; and Apollo RT6 The biggest advantage is that there is no driver. The monthly cost of 250,000 bicycles is only about 4100 yuan. The operating cost is reduced, and the corresponding people's car costs will also decrease.

Open the radish fast running applet and send financial observation that in Beijing, it has started operations in Yizhuang Development Zone, Zhongguancun Software Park, Shijingshan Shougang Park, Tongzhou, Daoshan Lake Scenic Area and other operations.

However, according to user feedback from driverless vehicles, most unmanned cars are still equipped with safety officers. In April of this year, Baidu and Xiaoma Zhixing obtained unmanned driving permits without security officers in Beijing, but Beijing's licenses still required them to be equipped with security officers in passenger seats.

The operating cost of Robotaxi, which exists in safety officers, is not low. Wang Yunpeng said that most of the current testing costs of testing vehicles are also very high, but from the 3rd generation cars, to the 4th generation and 5th generation products, the cost curve can be seen very steeply. The trend of decline.

At present, unmanned taxis only support the fixed point and get off the bus, and cannot be customized as a taxi or taxi. According to Baidu, there are 300 points in Beijing and are still increasing.

A favorable sign is that China's unmanned commercialization policy is constantly liberalizing.

Recently, China's driverless commercialization has entered a milestone development. On August 8th, Baidu announced that it had obtained open road manned operations in Chongqing and Wuhan cities to fully automatically automatically driverless taxis (Robotaxi) service permits. Unmanned vehicles can provide external services in China for the first time and charge fees. Essence The first batch of ROBOTAXIs charged 5 vehicles in each city for each city (9 am to 5 pm) during the day.

Earlier, Beijing officially opened the first domestic unmanned travel service commercialization point on July 20. The first batch of 25 unmanned vehicles for radish was allowed to carry out normalized paid travel services.

However, for the unmanned C -end use scenarios, because domestic and non -steering wheel cars are not allowed to drive on the road, it is still unable to land.

According to the official website of radish, as of July 2022, the cumulative order volume of radish fast running for the autonomous driving travel service platform was 1 million. It is planned to run the radish fast driving travel service until the end of 2023, and it will be opened to 30 cities. At least 3,000 autonomous vehicles are deployed to provide 30 million users.

According to the plan, the Apollo RT6 will be the first to be put into use on the Baidu Apollo's autonomous driving travel service platform "radish fast" in 2023.

At present, the industry's consensus is that the autonomous driving technology above L4 is not yet mature in the world, including Tesla and Waymo, which are still in the development stage. The commercialization of unmanned cars still takes time to verify.

For the mass production of Apollo RT6, the traditional heavy asset model of car manufacturing is not good at, but Baidu has not yet explicitly explicitly explicitly, but the existing AI technology and engineering manufacturing capabilities will be the biggest problem they are facing.

From the perspective of previous years, intelligent transportation and autonomous driving research and development account for Baidu's largest expense expenditure. Baidu spends more than 20 billion yuan in research and development every year. In the first quarter of 2022, Baidu smashed 5.134 billion yuan, which has already accounted for more than 20%of Baidu's core revenue for six consecutive quarters.

According to the financial report, Baidu revenue was 28.411 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2022. The core revenue mainly came from Baidu Smart Cloud Business and Baidu APP, with a loss of 885 million yuan. After the financial report was released, Li Yanhong said internally that "must fully recognize the difficulty of reality."

Affected by factors such as the epidemic in the first quarter, Baidu's first growth curve advertising revenue fell 4%year -on -year to 15.8 billion yuan; non -advertising revenue was 5.7 billion yuan, an increase of 35%year -on -year. 63%, the growth rate has declined.

In the context of the release of the core business revenue and the continuous expansion of technology research and development, Baidu's car construction urgently needs to be "external" blood transfusion.

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