Baidu’s Apollo Go Expands to 22 Cities
Baidu Inc.’s robotaxi service, Apollo Go, has expanded its operations to 22 cities worldwide, the company disclosed Nov. 3. As of Oct. 31, the service was handling over 250,000 fully driverless orders per week. Apollo Go has completed more than 17 million rides globally, with its autonomous vehicles clocking over 240 million kilometers, of which more than 140 million kilometers were fully driverless. The company said its driverless vehicles average one accident serious enough to deploy an airbag every 10.14 million kilometers and have never caused a major injury or death.
Amazon and OpenAI Forge $38 Billion Partnership
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OpenAI on Nov. 3 announced a multi-year strategic partnership valued at $38 billion. Under the deal, AWS will provide its infrastructure to run and scale OpenAI’s core artificial intelligence workloads. OpenAI will immediately begin using AWS computing resources, with all capacity scheduled for deployment by the end of 2026 and expected to expand further in 2027 and beyond.
PBOC to Explore Digital Yuan for Cross-Border Payments
China’s central bank will explore new cross-border payment solutions using the digital yuan, a deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said Nov. 3. Speaking in Hong Kong, Lu Lei said the plan involves three aspects: promoting cooperation on the mBridge multi-country central bank digital currency project; leveraging the digital yuan’s cross-border payment platform to offer solutions for international digital currency payments; and building dual platforms for blockchain and digital assets.
Meituan Launches Large Model App
Meituan on Nov. 3 released its new LongCat-Flash-Omni model and launched a public beta for its official LongCat app. The new app currently supports functions including internet search and voice calls, with video calls to be added later. The web version has added features such as image and file uploads and voice calls.
EV Battery Firm Weineng Raises $92.5 Million
Wuhan Weineng Battery Asset Co. Ltd., a battery asset management service provider, announced Nov. 3 it has completed a 670 million yuan ($94 million) Series C funding round. The funds will be used to enhance research and development and service upgrades. Founded in 2020, Weineng said it currently manages over 30 GWh of battery assets and serves more than 400,000 customers.
