Baidu-Lyft Robotaxis in EU 🚖 JD’s 1,000 AI Doctors 🩺 Robot Chefs-Only Kitchen 🤖

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2025-08-11 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to this week’s edition of the China Insights Weekly Newsletter!

Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• China’s car market posts record production, sales, and exports for a third straight month

• Alibaba’s Amap upgraded to world’s first AI-native navigation app

• SinoMed stent system earns FDA Breakthrough Device designation

• China’s power prices hit record lows as two-blade wind turbine passes 500-day test

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🚀 Headlines

China’s Baidu to deploy thousands of robotaxis in Europe in partnership with Lyft (link)

Chinese tech giant Baidu has partnered with US ride-hailing platform Lyft to launch autonomous ride-hailing services in key European markets, starting with Germany and the UK in 2026. The goal is to deploy "thousands" of Baidu Apollo Go’s RT6 autonomous vehicles across Europe in the coming years. FreeNow, the mobility services company acquired by Lyft, will play a crucial role in enabling this deployment. Baidu currently operates 1,000 robocars for passenger transport in about a dozen mainland Chinese cities and plans to expand its Apollo Go robotaxi services to Singapore and Malaysia later this year. The announcement comes just weeks after Baidu signed another international partnership with Uber.

JD.com doubles down on healthcare with 1,000 AI doctors (link)

JD.com has significantly expanded its healthcare platform, JD Health, by upgrading its AI doctors and launching over 500 specialist AI entities, including dermatologists, psychiatrists, and traditional Chinese medicine specialists. This move follows the successful launch of the Jingyi AI in January, which had already served over 50 million users by the end of June. JD.com announced that it will have over 1,000 AI doctors ready to assist on the platform by the end of the year. These AI doctors will provide specialized knowledge and clinical experience, acting as digital avatars of real physicians. They can also assist with medicine purchases and book check-up appointments. JD Health's AI solution was selected as one of the recommended ESG innovation cases at the World AI Conference (WAIC) 2025.

China’s car market posts new records for third straight month (link)

China's car market set new record highs for the third consecutive month in July, with production, sales, and exports all showing significant growth. Car production jumped 12% to 2.229 million units, retail sales rose 6.3% to 1.826 million units, and wholesale volumes increased 13% to 2.221 million units. Exports surged 25% to 475,000 units, marking a new monthly high. In the new energy vehicle (NEV) category, retail sales climbed 12% to 987,000 units, and exports soared 120% to 213,000 units. BYD, Geely Automobile, and FAW-Volkswagen were the top three carmakers by sales, with Geely standing out at 202,000 units sold, a 71% increase. The market's shift away from excessive price competition has improved profitability, with the sector's profit margin reaching 6.9% in June. Planned reduction of NEV purchase tax exemptions is expected to drive a surge in demand before the policy change.

Alibaba bills new Amap as world’s first AI-native map app (link)

Alibaba Group Holding has released a major upgrade of its Amap navigation platform, claiming it to be the world's first AI-native map app. Powered by Alibaba’s flagship AI model, Qwen, Amap 2025 will gradually roll out to over one billion users worldwide. This marks a significant step in Alibaba's strategic shift towards AI-driven user experiences across its ecosystem. Amap 2025 features Xiao Gao, an AI assistant co-developed with Alibaba’s Tongyi Lab, which offers advanced capabilities such as predicting user needs, adjusting plans based on traffic and weather changes, and handling tasks like booking reservations and planning trips in real-time. This upgrade follows Alibaba’s commitment in February to invest heavily in AI-driven business transformation over the next three years. The move reflects a broader trend in the industry, where navigation platforms are evolving into comprehensive lifestyle assistants, integrating with various apps and platforms to meet diverse user needs.

US YouTube star MrBeast follows IShowSpeed and enters China’s social media landscape gaining 100,000s viewers (link)

US YouTube sensation MrBeast, with 416 million subscribers, known for his extravagant videos, has entered China's social media landscape, streaming live on Kuaishou and gaining millions of followers on Bilibili and Weibo. His debut live stream on Kuaishou quickly attracted 150,000 viewers. This move aligns with China's strategy to enhance its soft power by leveraging foreign influencers' vast fan bases. Foreign influencers like MrBeast and IShowSpeed, who has 42 million subscribers, can boost Chinese companies' overseas recognition and drive growth for local streaming services. Shares of Kuaishou rose 7% following MrBeast's live-streaming announcement.

China's SinoMed’s new stent system gets FDA's Breakthrough Device designation (link)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Breakthrough Device designation to two of SinoMed's medical devices, including the world's first stent system for treating intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis. SinoMed's COMETIU self-expanding intracranial drug-coated stent system and COMEX balloon microcatheter received the designation on August 4. The COMETIU system is designed to expand the lumen diameter of patients' intracranial blood vessels to improve cerebral ischemia and shorten surgery time, reducing risks. The Breakthrough Device designation is the FDA's "green channel" for expediting the development and review of innovative medical devices, offering preferential services such as priority review and product-launch assistance.

The first robot-themed restaurant opens in Beijing (link)

Beijing’s first robot-themed restaurant, Robot Flame Lab, opened its doors, featuring over 20 types of robots that serve customers and provide entertainment. The restaurant’s robotic staff includes a humanoid bartender, a robotic band, bionic robots performing stand-up comedy, and robot chefs preparing dishes like pancakes and coffee. This innovative venue offers a unique dining experience with live performances by a robot band and various robotic services, showcasing the integration of technology and hospitality.

Ningbo restaurant replaces chefs with robots to boost efficiency (link)

A Chinese restaurant, Meitian Dao, located in Ningbo, has replaced all human chefs with robot cooks, resulting in increased efficiency and profitability. The restaurant purchased five stir-fry robot machines from Tineco Intelligent Technology, which can automatically add seasonings, stir-fry, and pour pre-prepared ingredients into a wok by following smart recipes. During the Labor Day holiday in May, Meitian Dao served over 1,300 dishes per day with a table turnover rate of 10 times. The robots allow the kitchen to be reduced from half of the 145-square-meter space to just 25 square meters, enabling the restaurant to offer more dishes and improve flavor consistency and serving efficiency. The gross profit margin has reached 68%, with a CNY 1 million (USD 139,215) investment recoverable in about eight to nine months. Meitian Dao plans to open over 20 new stores this year.

China’s power prices keep dropping, secret 2-blade wind turbine revealed after 500 days of testing (link, link)

In the summer of 2025, China experienced a significant drop in electricity prices, contrary to the usual seasonal increase. In Guangdong, the country’s largest power-consuming province, July spot prices repeatedly fell below 0.3 yuan (4.2 US cents) per kWh, hitting a monthly low of under 0.24 yuan. Neighboring Guangxi saw prices fall to less than 0.18 yuan/kWh, an all-time low. This trend was widespread, affecting provinces from industrial powerhouses like Jiangsu and Shandong to renewable-rich zones such as Inner Mongolia and Gansu. The price drops were driven by surging renewable energy capacity, weakened industrial demand, and regulatory changes. Industrial electricity use grew just 2.4% in the first half of 2025, down from 6.5% in 2023 and 5.1% in 2024. Meanwhile, 200 GW of solar capacity was added in the first five months of 2025, a 150% increase year-on-year.

Chinese wind power giant Envision Energy has completed over 500 days of stable operation of its innovative two-blade onshore smart turbine prototype. The turbine, built on Envision’s Model X platform, features a modular design and high-speed DFIG technology for enhanced stability. It achieved a remarkable availability rate of 99.3% and recorded 2,444 hours of Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) and 3,048 full-load equivalent hours per year. This performance matches that of traditional three-blade turbines operating at the same site. The turbine’s success overcomes historical design challenges and offers practical advantages such as fewer components, lower weight, and improved transportability, making it suitable for modular deployment in remote or developing regions.

🎁 Bonus Stories

Korea offers Chinese group tourists 10 months of visa-free entry (link)

The Korean government will temporarily lift visa requirements for Chinese group tourists from September 29, 2025, to June 30, 2026, to boost inbound tourism and stimulate domestic consumption. This initiative aims to capitalize on the surge in outbound travel during China's Golden Week holiday, which begins October 1. In the first half of 2025, Korea welcomed 8.88 million foreign tourists, a 14.6% increase from the previous year, but still falls short of the government's target of 30 million annual visitors. Chinese tourists, once the backbone of Korea’s inbound tourism sector, accounted for 47% of all foreign arrivals in 2016, but numbers plummeted due to restrictions imposed by Beijing in 2017 and the COVID-19 pandemic. In the first half of 2025, Chinese visitors totaled 2.52 million, accounting for 28% of all inbound travelers. The industry has responded positively, with retailers adjusting to changing consumer preferences and launching marketing campaigns featuring popular Chinese celebrities.

Shanghai's 466-year-old Yuyuan Garden launches first public night tour (link)

Shanghai's 466-year-old Yuyuan Garden launched its first public night tour on August 8, 2025. This inaugural event combines modern lighting, dynamic projections, and mapping shows with the garden's classical art, creating an immersive multimedia experience. The Ming Dynasty garden, a nationally protected cultural site since 1982, is renowned as "the finest garden in southeast China." The night tour features a special exhibition of rarely displayed Shanghai-style calligraphy and painting, enhanced by digital technology. The garden's cultural creative brand also debuted, offering products like blind box figures and ceramic teaware. Notably, the garden now provides English-language guided services. Located near the Bund, Yuyuan Garden is a landmark attraction that welcomed a record 2.7 million visitors in 2024, with international tourists comprising nearly 25% of the total.

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