Liu Yi is among China’s 7 million ride-hailing drivers. A 36-year-old Wuhan resident, he started driving part-time this year when construction work slowed in the face of a nationwide glut of unsold apartments.
Now he predicts another crisis as he stands next to his car watching neighbours order driverless taxis.
“Everyone will go hungry,” he said of Wuhan drivers competing against robotaxis from Apollo Go, a subsidiary of technology giant Baidu (9888.HK)
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology declined comment.
Ride-hailing and taxi drivers are among the first workers globally to face the threat of job loss from artificial intelligence as thousands of robotaxis hit Chinese streets, economists and industry experts said.
Self-driving technology remains experimental but China has moved aggressively to green-light trials compared with the U.S which is quick to launch investigations and suspend approvals after accidents.
At least 19 Chinese cities are running robotaxi and robobus tests, disclosures showed. Seven have approved tests without human-driver monitors by at least five industry leaders: Apollo Go, Pony.ai, WeRide, AutoX and SAIC Motor (600104.SS)
Apollo Go said in May it planned to deploy 1,000 robotaxis in Wuhan by year-end. In 2022, it had forecast it would be operating in 100 cities by 2030.
In a statement issued on Aug. 12, Apollo Go said it expected the transition to autonomous transport in China to be “gradual and well-regulated.”
“Our robotaxi fleet currently complements, rather than replaces, existing transport options,” the company said.
It added that the rollout of autonomous taxis would also create jobs at Apollo Go in monitoring and testing and in analysing the data gleaned from the ongoing trials.
Pony.ai, backed by Japan’s Toyota Motor (7203.T) operates 300 robotaxis and plans 1,000 more by 2026. Its vice president has said robotaxis could take five years to become sustainably profitable, at which point they will expand “exponentially”.
WeRide is known for autonomous taxis, vans, buses and street sweepers. AutoX, backed by e-commerce leader Alibaba Group (9988.HK) operates in cities including Beijing and Shanghai. SAIC has been operating robotaxis since the end of 2021.
“We’ve seen an acceleration in China. There’s certainly now a rapid pace of permits being issued,” said Boston Consulting Group managing director Augustin Wegscheider. “The U.S. has been a lot more gradual.”
Waymo is the only U.S. firm operating uncrewed robotaxis that collect fares. The company has a total of about 700 cars operating in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, Texas, but not all of them are in service at all times, a company spokesperson said.
Reuters News