China has passed a new legislation to encourage the use of driverless vehicles. This will pave way for more autonomous taxis (robotaxi) in cities of China. Under this legislation, autonomous cars will be eligible to apply for road trials if they pass safety evaluations and road testing. At least 19 cities are testing robotaxis and robobuses as part of China’s aggressive approval of self-driving technology experiments, according news and reports published last August 2024.
Among the companies operating autonomous taxis / robotaxis in China are-
- Apollo Go, a division of the massive Baidu technology company, which intends to install 1,000 robotaxis in Wuhan by the end of 2024.
- Pony.ai, which went public on the US market in November, intends to increase the number of robotaxis it operates statewide from 250 this year to over 1,000 by 2026.
- WeRide, AutoX, and SAIC Motor are among the other companies investigating robotaxi prospects in the biggest auto market globally.
- Tesla has stated that it will begin manufacturing its own robotaxi in 2026 and hopes to introduce full self-driving (FSD) technology to China in 2025’s first quarter, pending regulatory clearance.
The authorities in China are also encouraging connected vehicle ecosystem.
