Carrot Run "Information Explosion"

Baidu's Carousel has recently become a frequent search engine, sparking a wide-ranging discussion about driverless technology and its impact on the traditional taxi and online car-hailing industries. From complaints from Wuhan citizens to Baidu's positive response, to media reports and analysis of public sentiment, Carousel is undoubtedly at the forefront of the exploration of the commercialization of driverless technology.

In the past two days, Baidu's Luobo Kuaipao has become a frequent hot search.

When you open Weibo, Moments, and various news clients, it seems that there are messages about Carrot Running everywhere. It can be described as an "information explosion."

Yesterday's Hot Search

Today's Hot Search

Within 24 hours, four related topics were on the Weibo hot search list: The price of the Luobo Kuaipao unmanned vehicle is only 204,600 yuan, Baidu said that Luobo Kuaipao will start to make a profit next year, Luobo Kuaipao, and Luobo Kuaipao has invested more than 400 vehicles in Wuhan.

The discussion was also quite heated. As of around 4 p.m. today, there were 180 million reads and 57,000 discussions in 24 hours.

In addition, through the analysis of hot searches on Weibo, we see the keywords that everyone discusses and pays attention to: driverless, profitability, Carrot Run, taxi, price, Wuhan, online car-hailing, etc.

Weibo also provides data on public emotions. Nearly half of the people are calm, while those expressing negative emotions such as hate, sadness, and anger account for about 15%.

In addition to the popular discussion words related to Carrot Run, we can also see that the discussion has expanded in many directions, such as artificial intelligence, Tesla, robots, Didi, etc.

Through the WeChat Index and Baidu Index, we can also see that the search popularity and discussion popularity of Luobo Kuaipao have continued to rise in the past five days, and this trend is still developing upward.

So, why has Luobo Kuaipao suddenly become a hot topic in recent days, and what are people paying attention to?

To clarify the whole process, we can extend the timeline and see what relevant news about Luobo Kuaipao has been reported recently.

In late May, it was reported that many citizens left messages on the Wuhan city message board to complain about Luobo Kuaipao.

• On May 29, Luobo Kuaipao said that it had reported a report to the police due to malicious complaints and false incidents made by internet trolls.
• In mid-to-late June, there were reports that taxi companies in Wuhan accused driverless ride-hailing services of stealing their jobs.
• On June 24, it was reported that a user of the Carrot Kuaipao driverless taxi had to stop for an hour due to heavy rain.
• On June 25, Luobokuaipao issued a statement saying that a water army company was suspected of manipulating hundreds of accounts to discredit the company, and five people were criminally detained.
• On July 7, a LuoBoKuaiPao driverless taxi collided with an electric car in Wuhan.
• On July 8, Baidu responded to a taxi crash in Wuhan. Some platforms also sorted out the context of the incident.

It is worth noting that on July 8, reports that Beijing plans to support self-driving cars for online ride-hailing services sparked discussions on driverless cars.

If people were more concerned about the individual car owners before, now the discussion is shifting to the development of the driverless industry and its impact on traditional taxis and online ride-hailing services.

This change is inseparable from the recent introduction of policies in many places to support driverless cars.

In addition, the recent listing of Ruqi (the first Robotaxi stock) has also increased the discussion about the commercialization of driverless cars.

It can be seen that the content of the discussion on Luobo Kuaipao has gradually changed, and people have begun to pay attention to the commercialization details of Luobo Kuaipao.

The news in recent days mainly includes the number of cars launched, unit price, profitability, etc. of Luobo Kuaipao, as well as discussions on the development of the driverless industry.

Some of the news directly related to Carrot Run include:

• Luobo Kuaipao put 1,000 vehicles into operation in Wuhan
• Baidu: The online rumor that Wuhan has deployed 1,000 Carrot Runs is questionable, and the number has never been made public.
• Taxi drivers in Wuhan said that their business was taken away by the fast-selling taxi drivers, and they could hardly get any customers in places with a large number of taxis.
• Wuhan Transportation Bureau responds to the rumor that Carrots are running away from online taxi drivers: Wuhan's taxi industry is relatively stable, but there are many rumors online
• The price of the Radish Fast Run driverless car is only 204,600 yuan
• Baidu says Carrot Run will start making profits next year

There is also a repost of Robin Li’s news at the 2022 Baidu World Conference: Robin Li once said that taking a driverless car is half the price. In fact, the price of driverless cars, profit targets, and the news that 1,000 vehicles will be deployed in Wuhan are all old news.

There are also professional analyses and interpretations from mainstream media. Anyway, the headlines are quite eye-catching.

Back to the original question, why did Carrot Run become a hot topic this time? There are several reasons:

First, the unexpected incidents that occurred during the operation of the Carrot Run have already attracted a certain amount of attention, sparking discussions about whether driverless driving is feasible.

Secondly, there was news that Luobo Kuaipao had invested 1,000 vehicles in Wuhan, offering low prices, and was accused by taxi drivers of stealing their business.

This gives people a sense of contrast that the carrot runs fast and is really effective. Autonomous driving seems to have become the online car-hailing service of the year, with the imagination of completely changing passenger transportation.

Third, with the release of the Beijing draft opinion on driverless cars, the mainstream media has conducted a more in-depth discussion on the development of driverless cars and is generally optimistic about the development prospects of driverless cars.

At this time, Luobo Kuaipao, which was the first in China to carry out commercial operations, became the object of praise. In various analytical articles, Luobo Kuaipao became the representative of domestic driverless cars.

Next, the news about Luobo Kuaipao became more positive, such as the low cost of bicycle sales, profitability starting next year, passengers saving money, and launch in more cities, etc.

Baidu also saw a sharp rise in its stock price amid this wave of news, and the autonomous car powered by Carrot Speedy began to become a subject of check-in for many people.

In fact, the attitude towards new technologies will go through this process, just like the online car-hailing industry. If a technology can improve efficiency and service experience while reducing costs, then there is no reason why it will not succeed.

The discussion about the elimination of taxis is actually nothing new. Wasn’t it the same when online ride-hailing services emerged?

But we should also realize that driverless cars are still in their early stages and have a long way to go.

He Xiaopeng of Xpeng Motors believes that driverless taxis will begin to reach a turning point in about two years.

The reason he said this is that he believes that the capabilities, regulations, and commercial closed loop for autonomous driving are not yet there, and he said that they will break even soon because many accounts have not been calculated.

In less than a month, Musk will also launch his own driverless taxi, let's look forward to it.