Finance
Baidu’s robotaxi unit is exploring expansion into global markets in the ‘near future’
Chinese tech company Baidu announced Monday it can sell some robotaxi rides without any human staff in the vehicles.
Baidu
BEIJING — Chinese tech company Baidu‘s robotaxi unit, Apollo Go, is in talks with several firms to expand into overseas markets in the “near future,” according to a source familiar with the matter.
No details on timing or regions were available.
Baidu is one of the major operators of robotaxis in China. Regulators in parts of Beijing and cities such as Wuhan — Apollo Go’s largest operating region — have allowed companies to commercially operate self-driving taxis after years of just permitting internal testing.
Tesla is scheduled to hold its widely anticipated robotaxi event on Thursday.
WeRide, another Chinese robotaxi developer, in late September announced a deal to integrate its cars onto ride-hailing giant Uber‘s platform in Abu Dhabi this year. The statement said the companies did not plan on similar partnerships in the U.S. or China.
In July, BYD and Uber announced they would develop “autonomous-capable vehicles” for the ride-hailing company’s platform. They did not share details.
Robotaxi rides in China operated by Baidu and companies such as Pony.ai are generally highly subsidized by the companies to encourage their usage. Local regulation sometimes requires a human staff worker to sit inside the car, meaning not all the vehicles are fully autonomous.
Baidu said as of late July, Apollo Go had operated more than 7 million robotaxi rides.
Separately, Baidu on Tuesday announced Rong Luo would no longer serve as its CFO, and instead become executive vice president overseeing the company’s mobile ecosystem unit. Junjie He, former head of the mobile unit, will become interim CFO, the company said. Baidu described the changes as part of a “management rotation.”
Dario Amodei, Anthropic CEO, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Anthropic is in talks to raise a $3.5 billion funding round, significantly more than the amount previously expected, CNBC has confirmed.
The round would roughly triple the artificial intelligence startup’s valuation to $61.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. Lightspeed Ventures is leading the funding, with participation from General Catalyst and others, the sources said.
The financing, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, signals continued investor demand for top-tier AI companies, even in the face of potential disruption from China’s DeepSeek. Anthropic is backed by Amazon and Google, and had initially set out to raise $2 billion, according to a source.
Anthropic declined to comment.
The company’s last private market valuation was $18 billion. Amazon has poured $8 billion into the startup.
Anthropic was founded by early OpenAI employees and is the creator of the popular chatbot Claude. Earlier Monday, Anthropic released what it says is it’s “most intelligent AI model yet. Its so-called hybrid model combines an ability to reason — or stopping to think about complex answers — with a traditional model that spits out answers in real time.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon on Monday said the U.S. government is inefficient and in need of work as the Trump administration terminates thousands of federal employees and works to dismantle agencies including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Dimon was asked by CNBC’s Leslie Picker whether he supported efforts by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. He declined to give what he called a “binary” response, but made comments that supported the overall effort.
“The government is inefficient, not very competent, and needs a lot of work,” Dimon told Picker. “It’s not just waste and fraud, its outcomes.”
The Trump administration’s effort to rein in spending and scrutinize federal agencies “needs to be done,” Dimon added.
“Why are we spending the money on these things? Are we getting what we deserve? What should we change?” Dimon said. “It’s not just about the deficit, its about building the right policies and procedures and the government we deserve.”
Dimon said if DOGE overreaches with its cost-cutting efforts or engages in activity that’s not legal, “the courts will stop it.”
“I’m hoping it’s quite successful,” he said.
In the wide-ranging interview, Dimon also addressed his company’s push to have most workers in office five days a week, as well as his views on the Ukraine conflict, tariffs and the U.S. consumer.
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