On July 26th, the leading player in the "ride-hailing" sector, Da Zhong Transportation (600611.SH), continued to soar by 7.8%, closing at 8.43 yuan per share, with a market value reaching 19.93 billion yuan, approaching the 20 billion yuan milestone.

Since its launch on July 8th, the company's stock price has accumulated a gain of over 200%, attracting a swarm of speculative capital and retail investors.

Driven by the benchmark stock, ride-hailing concept stocks have recently shown strength, including Jinlong Automobile (600686.SH), Power New Technology (600841.SH), Jin Jiang Online (600650.SH), and Longjiang Transportation (601188.SH), all collectively rising.

Recently, the ride-hailing concept has been at the forefront.

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In early July, Baidu's autonomous taxi company, Luobo Kuaibao, saw an explosive growth in fully driverless orders in Wuhan city, with peak daily orders per vehicle exceeding 20, reaching the same level as traditional taxi drivers.

For a time, autonomous taxis and traditional taxis competed for market share at low prices, leading to rumors of declining orders and forced layoffs for some "taxi drivers," which sparked public concern and heated discussions.

Some industry insiders have said that the boundaries between autonomous taxis and traditional ride-hailing and taxis may become increasingly blurred in the future, potentially forming a complementary relationship.

There are even views that autonomous taxis may be entering a period of rapid development and could eventually replace traditional ride-hailing services.

Securities firms have also weighed in on this, with a report from Guotai Junan suggesting that Luobo Kuaibao is expected to achieve profitability in the business model of autonomous ride-hailing taxis.

It is anticipated that with an increase in the number of vehicles deployed, the operating costs per vehicle will be significantly reduced, and economies of scale may be realized.

Luobo Kuaibao is expected to achieve a break-even point in Wuhan by the end of 2024 and to become profitable by 2025.

In addition, in July, the "Beijing Autonomous Driving Vehicle Regulations (Draft for Comments)" proposed to support the use of autonomous driving vehicles for urban public electric vehicle passenger transport, ride-hailing, car rental, and other urban mobility services.

At the same time, Shanghai also issued the first batch of demonstration application permits for unmanned intelligent connected vehicles, with the related autonomous taxis expected to be open to the public in August.

The era of "unmanned driving" is gradually approaching, and related concept stocks have surged in response.

Data shows that Da Zhong Transportation, formerly known as Shanghai Da Zhong Taxi Company, has become one of the largest public transportation groups in Shanghai, with the revenue from its transportation industry accounting for nearly 30%.

Da Zhong Transportation officials stated that Baidu's Luobo Kuaibao and Da Zhong Transportation's Da Zhong Travel have jointly applied for three batches of demonstration operations totaling 65 Robotaxis.

In response to the sharp increase in stock prices, the company issued a statement clarifying that the smart connected vehicle business is still in the experimental stage and does not generate significant revenue for the company.

However, the enthusiasm for speculative capital seems unaffected.

Some analysts believe that in the long term, the market space for autonomous taxis is vast.

In the initial stage, it is constrained by factors such as cost and technology.

In the medium term, as costs decrease and technology iterates, the penetration rate of intelligent driving is expected to gradually increase.

However, there are also views that autonomous taxis still need to face multiple factors such as technology, safety, market competition, and legal regulations.

The path to commercialization in the future is still full of uncertainties.

Previously, there were reports from Wuhan netizens that Luobo Kuaibao's autonomous taxis collided with pedestrians on the streets of Wuhan, causing some traffic congestion.

In any case, Da Zhong Transportation's stock price has soared more than twice in the short term, and the "bubble" is becoming more apparent.

The company may face the risk of adjustment.

Investors should stay sober and drunk at the same time, and withdraw in time when necessary, without hurting their "principal" and being "harvested like leeks" by others.