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Baidu’s bosses appear to recognise as much. The firm is rapidly diversifying. Last November it agreed to buy YY Live, a video-sharing and live-streaming app, for $3.6bn, in a bid to boost its presence in online entertainment and compete with the likes of Kuaishou. Baidu is also investing heavily in cloud services to keep up with Alibaba and Tencent, two bigger Chinese tech rivals. But arguably the boldest push is what the company calls “intelligent driving”.
百度的老板們似乎也認識到了這一點。這家公司隨即迅速多樣化發展。去年11月，百度同意斥資36億美元收購視頻分享和流媒體直播應用YY直播，以提升其在在線娛樂領域的影響力，并與快手等同類型公司展開競爭。百度還在云服務方面投入巨資，以趕上中國兩大科技競爭對手阿里巴巴和騰訊。但百度所謂的“智能駕駛”可以說是它最大膽的攻勢了。
This business contributes hardly any revenues today but holds “huge long-term monetisation potential”, according to Baidu’s new prospectus. The business has three prongs. The first is the establishment of a nationwide fleet of robotaxis powered by Apollo, Baidu’s in-house self-driving technology. The firm is already operating self-driving taxis in three Chinese cities, including part of Beijing. Rides are currently free but Baidu hints that it may soon start charging. It has international ambitions, too. In January it received permission to test self-driving cars in California.
百度最新的招股書顯示，智能駕駛業務目前幾乎沒有貢獻任何營收，但具有“巨大的長期盈利潛力”。百度決定三管齊下開展該業務。首先是在全國范圍內組建一支由百度自主研發的自動駕駛技術“阿波羅”驅動的無人駕駛車隊。該公司已經在中國三個城市運營自動駕駛出租車，其中包括北京的部分地區。目前乘車是免費的，但百度暗示可能很快就會開始收費。百度也有進軍國際的野心。今年1月，百度獲準在美國加州測試自動駕駛汽車。
Baidu also plans to mass-produce electric vehicles (EVS). In January it formed a new venture with Geely, a Chinese carmaker, to bring to market “intelligent” (if not fully autonomous) EVS within three years. By 2035 China’s government wants every other new car sold to be an EV. The third prong allows Baidu to earn immediate revenues by selling services to Chinese carmakers, such as high-definition maps and automated-parking technology, which it has already sold to ten firms. Baidu is already a late entrant to China’s crowded personal-mobility industry. For now, at least, investors are on for the ride.
百度還計劃大規模生產電動汽車（EVS）。今年1月，百度與中國汽車制造商吉利成立了一家新的合資企業，計劃在三年內將“智能”電動汽車（如果未能實現全自動駕駛）推向市場。到2035年，中國政府希望出售的所有新車都是電動汽車。第三方面，百度可以通過向中國汽車制造商出售高清地圖和自動泊車技術等服務來賺取即時收入，百度目前已經向10家公司出售了此類服務。在擁擠的中國個人出行領域，百度已然是后來者。至少就目前而言，投資者已經開始行動了。
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