Produced by｜Huabo Business Review

On the afternoon of November 18, Hubei Governor Wang Zhonglin met with Baidu founder Robin Li again in Wuhan. This meeting was another in-depth exchange between the two following their first public meeting on January 11 last year.

Why was Baidu's Robin Li met by Hubei provincial government leaders for two consecutive years?

01

Baidu's "Hubei Sample" of Autonomous Driving

On January 11 last year, Hubei Governor Wang Zhonglin and Robin Li held their first public meeting, and both parties reached a consensus on a comprehensive strategic cooperation in the field of intelligent and connected vehicles. Relying on Hubei's transportation location advantages and a well-established automotive industry chain, the province has joined hands with Baidu's autonomous driving brand Robotaxi to accelerate the transformation and upgrading of Hubei's automotive industry cluster. Wang Zhonglin solemnly promised that Hubei would be committed to "creating a first-class business environment" and providing strong support for the development of companies like Robotaxi in Hubei.

On November 18 this year, Wang Zhonglin and Robin Li met again in Wuhan, deepening their cooperation intentions in fields such as artificial intelligence, new energy, and intelligent and connected vehicles.

Wang Zhonglin emphasized that technological innovation and industrial innovation are key drivers of economic development, and that Robotaxi, as an outstanding representative of Baidu in the field of autonomous driving, is the highlight of their cooperation.

In fact, as early as May 2022, Robotaxi was the first to start operations in Wuhan. With generous government policy support, the service scope of Robotaxi has rapidly expanded, with coverage areas and operating hours continuously increasing. Soon, Wuhan became the first city in China to achieve cross-district travel and fully unmanned autonomous driving night services, providing citizens with a more convenient and safe mode of transportation.

As of the end of 2023, Wuhan had cumulatively opened over 3,378.73 kilometers of autonomous driving test roads, covering 12 administrative regions with a coverage area of approximately 3,000 square kilometers and reaching a population of over 7.7 million. This has made Wuhan the world's largest autonomous driving travel service area, maintaining a leading position in the country in terms of both open mileage and the number of open areas.

Robin Li also stated: "Robotaxi has achieved 100% fully unmanned ride-hailing services in Wuhan, marking an important milestone for our project. Despite facing short-term pressures, we remain committed to our strategy centered on artificial intelligence and are confident in our long-term development trend. As we further expand the application scale of artificial intelligence, we will have greater confidence in exploring how it can stimulate innovation and create value for consumers, enterprises, and even the entire society.""02

Hubei and Baidu are "deeply bound"

Not only local government leaders but also the achievements of Baidu's deep cultivation in artificial intelligence and autonomous driving have attracted the attention of the central government.

On March 13 this year, during a research visit in Beijing, the Premier visited the Innovation Operation Center of Beijing's High-Level Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone and the Robotaxi Yizhuang office area, with Robin Li accompanying and providing detailed explanations. Additionally, on January 23 this year, Robin Li participated in a symposium hosted by the Premier to discuss the future development of fields such as artificial intelligence.

Robotaxi's performance in the national market is also robust. Baidu's third-quarter financial report shows that Robotaxi provided 988,000 orders, a year-on-year increase of 20%. Among them, the volume of fully unmanned orders accounted for over 70% of the country's total, and in October this year, this proportion further increased to 80%. As of October 28, 2024, Robotaxi had cumulatively provided over 8 million autonomous driving travel services to the public.

At the China 5G+Industrial Internet Conference on November 19, Wuhan Mayor Sheng Yuechun once again demonstrated Wuhan's leading position in the fields of autonomous driving and industrial internet. He revealed that Wuhan's industrial internet identifier registration volume has increased from 200 million to 23.8 billion, and that the city has built the country's largest and most scenario-rich open road autonomous driving demonstration zone with the first full 5G access.

Moreover, the "binding" between Baidu and Hubei continues to strengthen. On November 14, Baidu and Wuhan's Hanjiang Bay Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park reached a strategic cooperation agreement, and the demonstration site for Baidu Intelligent Cloud's (Wuhan) New Quality Productivity Industrial Base was signed and established. Taking the construction of the Hanjiang Bay Artificial Intelligence Industrial Park as an opportunity, the Baidu Group will cooperate with Qiaokou to build the Baidu Intelligent Cloud (Wuhan) New Quality Productivity Industrial Base, focusing on artificial intelligence industry elements such as algorithms, data, and models to create a large model industry innovation center, an artificial intelligence data annotation center, and a large model talent practical training center, thereby promoting the construction of an artificial intelligence industry cluster.

Simultaneously, the Spark Reach Artificial Intelligence Computing Power Center and Tencent Cloud Demonstration Site were also signed and established. Tencent Cloud, in collaboration with Wuhan Spark Reach, will invest in the construction of a green, low-carbon, and secure intelligent computing platform within the park, with an estimated total investment of 1 billion yuan, providing Tencent Cloud's large model and intelligent computing center-related technologies and services.