Robin Li, | new Autobots: I went to the Meta universe to drive Apollo first

Wen/Pu Zhenyu Unlike Lei Jun, who shouted "fight for Xiaomi cars", Robin Li has always maintained a low profile and restraint in his words and deeds involving Baidu's car manufacturing in the past year, with no sensational actions or tragic declarations.

In March 2021, when Baidu returned to Hong Kong to go public, the outside world regarded car-making as an extremely valuable new story for Baidu, but Robin Li only lightly mentioned in his open letter to shareholders, "We have recently established an independent car-making company Jidu."

Robin Li is not a corporate leader who lacks passion. In 2017, Robin Li rode in a self-driving car to Beijing's Fifth Ring Road and received a ticket. For this high-profile action, Robin Li shouted: "The driverless ticket has come, will the mass production of unmanned vehicles be far away?" ”

To interpret The change in Li Yanhong's mood, the first thing to see is that from 2017 to 2021, Baidu, as a supplier of autonomous driving technology, has walked from behind the car companies to the forefront of the car-making stage.

As for why Baidu personally built cars, Robin Li said that Baidu has developed a large number of advanced autonomous driving technologies, hoping to help automobile manufacturing customers accelerate the integration and upgrading of intelligent software. Many traditional automakers are relatively conservative in this regard and are unwilling to take the initiative to try some new technologies, so Baidu can only preemptively manufacture electric vehicles that integrate cutting-edge technology.

Robin Li's judgment on the "conservative" of traditional car companies may not be accurate. At least, some car companies uphold the concept of SAIC Chairman Chen Hong's "soul theory" in 2021 - car companies are jealous of huawei, Baidu, a technology company that can provide overall solutions, and do not want to leave their "soul" in the control of others.

But in any case, the word "can only" still express li robin's helplessness and even some reluctance. In 2018, the year after the opening of Baidu's Apollo platform, Robin Li stressed that Baidu would not build its own cars, but only do research and development of autonomous driving technology that it is good at.

I believe that Robin Li's statement of "Baidu does not build cars" in 2018 is from the heart. After all, Robin Li, who started as a search engine business, knows that doing platform business is far more comfortable and safe than doing things himself.

The reality is bone-chilling. In the past few years, the output of Apollo's autonomous driving technology has been less than expected, and although there are dozens of cooperative car companies, few models have been fully equipped with its autonomous driving technology and achieved mass production. Having nowhere to display a martial art becomes an embarrassment for Baidu.

Building cars yourself does not mean that Baidu gives up exporting technology to car companies, and Robin Li hopes that Baidu will play both roles at the same time. He said that Baidu Apollo will have three business models: one is to provide Apollo autonomous driving technology solutions for host manufacturers, the second is Baidu car manufacturing, and the third is to share unmanned vehicles.

The problem is that the two roles of building cars and helping others build cars are recognized as inherently contradictory, which is why Ren Zhengfei drew a high-voltage line of "no car" for Huawei.

In this regard, Robin Li has his own different expectations, software engineer is a fan of technology, used to think from the perspective of technology.

"In the past, auto companies may have hesitated, but now we have provided a preliminary smart car template." According to Robin Li's logic, Baidu personally went down to build a car, which can make the outside world have a deeper understanding of the advanced and practical nature of Baidu technology, and naturally attract more car companies to cooperate - do not want to do homework, copy homework will always be?

Frankly speaking, although Robin Li's goal of "having both fish and bear paws" subverts cognition, it is not logically imaginative, but I don't know if he is inspired and inspired by the US technology giant Microsoft on the other side of the ocean.

Over the past decade, Microsoft, as a system software supplier, has successfully become a well-known computer manufacturer with the Surface family of products. Moreover, for Microsoft's own approach to building computers, other computer manufacturer partners are not in disagreement.

The reason is that Microsoft did not grab the stock cake of the Windows computer market, but made a new cake. Under the slogan of "redefining laptops", Microsoft's Surface has ignited the new market segment of PC tablet two-in-one. After Microsoft, other Windows computer makers flocked to the cake with imitations.

Similar to Microsoft's "redefining laptop" to open up a new cake, Robin Li also wants to "redefine the car", he proposed the concept of "car robot".

"These automotive robots can communicate autonomously with people, roads, and their own kind, and make corresponding actions according to the results of communication." They are like schools of fish in the sea, moving autonomously and orderly, with ease, completing a variety of tasks and becoming intelligent assistants for humans. Robin Li said.

However, on the price level, Robin Li did not learn from Microsoft. The high price of Microsoft's Surface series is aimed at a niche high-end business crowd, which leaves enough room for other Windows computer manufacturers in the mid- and low-end markets.

In contrast, the official description of Jidu Automobile's "light luxury" and "price is not less than 200,000 yuan" reflects that this company is not just a "vase" of Baidu to show automatic driving technology, but also has to undertake the task of facing the mainstream market.

The more mainstream the market positioning, the more likely it is to trigger the vigilance of car company partners. In fact, Li Yanhong may not have seen this, but under some pressure, he may not be able to think about it so much.

Robin Li has emphasized more than once that Baidu is a leading AI company, and Baidu has even used the slogan of "All in AI" as a slogan. However, Baidu's financial report is always Robin Li in an "embarrassing" situation.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2021, Baidu's revenue is still highly dependent on search advertising, of which online marketing revenue accounts for 60% of the total revenue, and innovative business (smart cloud, smart speaker and Apollo autonomous driving) accounts for only 16% of revenue.

Robin Li is eager to immediately tear off the old label of "advertising company" on Baidu, and his goal announced on the earnings call is that the proportion of Baidu's advertising revenue in revenue will drop below 50% in the next 3 years.

From this point of view, Robin Li needs to belong to the innovative business of Jidu automobile, while controlling the cost of advanced technology while making as much money as possible, and the market of more than 200,000 yuan is undoubtedly the most imaginative space.

In December 2021, Robin Li appeared in the meta-universe product "Xiyuan" created by Baidu. He said that in the era of "human-machine symbiosis", China ushered in the golden decade of AI. The subtext of the "Golden Decade" is that Robin Li is tired of his previous lonely state.

However, Robin Li's speech did not revolve around the metaverse itself, but focused on intelligent transportation and automatic driving. It was on this occasion that he officially announced that Jidu Automobile will deliver the first "automotive robot" in mass production in 2023.

"We don't want to be the atmosphere group of technological innovation, and we want to do the actual combat group." Although Robin Li's words are not specifically aimed at Baidu's car manufacturing, the behavior that best reflects this state is undoubtedly that he took the steering wheel and drove Apollo personally when other car company partners were vigilant.