Baidu's Apollo Go logs 3.2 million rides

Baidu used its first-quarter earnings report this week to show how far its robotaxi business has moved from pilot-stage messaging to operating-scale numbers. Apollo Go, the company’s autonomous ride-hailing arm, delivered 3.2 million fully driverless rides in the quarter ended March 31, according to Baidu’s May 18 earnings release. The company said total rides rose by more than 120% from a year earlier, with weekly rides peaking above 350,000 in March. As of April, cumulative rides provided to the public had exceeded 22 million. ### Where did the 3.2 million figure come from? Baidu disclosed the number in its first-quarter 2026 results and repeated it in earnings commentary led by co-founder and CEO Robin Li. The company described the rides as “fully driverless operational rides,” which matters because robotaxi operators often report broader trip totals that can include testing or safety-driver-supervised runs. Baidu said Apollo Go “sustained triple-digit growth in fully driverless rides” while it pursued international expansion. (ir.baidu.com) The quarter covered January through March 2026. March was the strongest month inside that period, with weekly rides topping 350,000, according to the earnings release. That pace suggests Apollo Go is no longer being presented by Baidu as a small experimental business inside the group’s broader AI strategy. ### How does Apollo Go fit into Baidu’s broader earnings picture? (ir.baidu.com) Baidu reported that its AI-powered business generated 13.6 billion yuan in revenue in the quarter, up 49% year over year, and accounted for 52% of Baidu General Business revenue for the first time. AI cloud infrastructure revenue rose 79% year over year to 8.8 billion yuan, while GPU cloud revenue increased 184%, the company said. (ir.baidu.com) Robin Li told analysts that AI had become Baidu’s “primary growth driver.” In that framing, Apollo Go sits alongside cloud infrastructure and AI applications as one of the operating businesses Baidu is using to show commercial adoption, not just model development. ### How big is Apollo Go now by cumulative rides? Baidu said cumulative public rides exceeded 22 million as of April 2026. (ir.baidu.com) That means the latest quarter added a large share of the service’s lifetime volume in a short period, reflecting the faster ride cadence the company highlighted in its release and call. Quartr’s summary of the earnings call said Apollo Go was operating in 27 cities globally, though Baidu’s own release emphasized the ride totals and overseas expansion rather than listing every market in the headline metrics. (insidermonkey.com) That city count should be read as a secondary summary of the call, not the core company disclosure. ### What is happening in Dubai? Baidu’s Dubai plan has already moved beyond a future launch. (ir.baidu.com) On February 10, Baidu and Uber said, with Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, that Apollo Go autonomous ride-hailing would come to the Uber platform in Dubai, initially in parts of Jumeirah, with expansion tied to operational learnings and regulatory approvals. (quartr.com) By April 1, Baidu said Apollo Go had launched a fully driverless commercial ride-hailing service in Dubai through the Apollo Go app, in partnership with Dubai Taxi Company and the RTA. Dubai’s media office said the rollout would start with 50 vehicles in the first year and expand to more than 1,000 over the coming years. (investor.uber.com) ### Why does Baidu keep pairing robotaxis with AI cloud in its updates? Baidu’s earnings materials put Apollo Go next to AI cloud and AI applications because those are the businesses now carrying its growth narrative. The company said capital was still being directed toward AI infrastructure, and management presented robotaxis as another area where Baidu’s software and operating systems are being deployed at scale. (prnewswire.com) April 2026 is the latest cumulative-ride marker Baidu has published so far. The next formal update is likely to come with Baidu’s second-quarter results or any separate Apollo Go expansion announcements involving Uber, Dubai Taxi Company or Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority. (ir.baidu.com 1) (ir.baidu.com 2)