Baidu "Apollo" self-driving robot vehicle

 Tech giant Baidu released its first quarter results for 2022 on Thursday, showing that revenue for its AI Cloud unit increased 45 percent year-on-year.

The firm said its total revenue reached 28.4 billion yuan ($4.48 billion) in the first quarter, and non-GAAP net income was 3.9 billion yuan.

Revenue from the core business was 21.4 billion. Non-ad revenue rose by 35 percent year-on-year, driven by AI Cloud revenue, which jumped 45 percent year-on-year, the company said. 

Baidu delivered solid results in the first quarter despite the impact of the epidemic, said founder Robin Li, especially in the AI cloud and smart driving businesses. He said the new AI business will drive long-term growth and contribute to China's innovation-driven economy and sustainable development.

The company said it continues to invest heavily in research and development (R&D). Its R&D on core business expenses accounted for more than 20 percent of revenue for six consecutive quarters, and reached 5.13 billion yuan in the first quarter.

Apollo Go provided 196,000 rides in the first quarter of 2022 and the service is now available in 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Chongqing.

On April 28, 2022, Apollo Go was granted permission to provide driverless ride hailing services on public roads in the Yizhuang area of Beijing. It also received the first permits in Chongqing to conduct driverless testing on May 20.