Elon Musk’s big bet on robo-taxis will finally be unveiled on Thursday afternoon, Pacific time. It’s been a long road, with the billionaire promising fully automated cars since 2016 and a robo-taxi network since 2019. So far, Tesla only offers assisted driving, which still requires a human driver to supervise at all times.
But Tesla is already behind the robotaxi competition—much of which is based in China, one of the U.S automaker’s most important markets. Several Chinese startups and tech companies are already testing fleets of self-driving cars in cities like Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Beijing with the blessing of city governments.
Guangzhou-based WeRide, founded in 2017, already has commercial operations in China. Fellow autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai, which includes Toyota as one of its backers, has permits to operate commercial robo-taxis in major Chinese cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Big tech companies are getting involved too. Internet giant Baidu, through its Apollo Go service, provides fully driverless rides in the cities of Wuhan, Beijing, Chongqing, and Shenzhen. The company offers self-driving cars with safety drivers in other locations.
The service has provided almost 900,000 rides in the second quarter of 2024, a 26% year-on-year jump, according to Baidu’s most recent earnings report.
Chinese robo-taxi providers are also exploring taking their models overseas.
WeRide has had a permit to operate its robo-taxis in the UAE since early 2023. Last month, the startup announced a partnership with Uber, where the ride-hailing app agrees to provide WeRide’s robotaxis services on its platform. The partnership will launch later this year.
The company also has a permit to test a robobus in Singapore.
Baidu is in discussions with foreign automakers and ride-sharing platforms about bringing its services overseas, Nikkei Asia reports, citing sources familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal also reports that Baidu hopes to deploy Apollo Go in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Middle East. Baidu did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Pony.ai is also reportedly exploring markets in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the Middle East to launch its robo-taxi services.
Pony.ai already has a memorandum of understanding with ComfortDelGro, a leading transport operator in Singapore. ComfortDelGro’s CEO Cheng Siak Kian said during the MoU signing in July that the partnership would allow the two parties to explore large-scale commercial robo-taxi operations in China and subsequently in ComfortDelGro’s key international markets.
Chinese startups are also testing their robo-taxis in the U.S., particularly in the state of California, which has a dedicated scheme for companies to test robo-taxis on its roads.
California issued WeRide a permit in August that would allow its test vehicles to ferry passengers with or without a driver for three years. WeRide wouldn’t be allowed to offer rides to the general public or charge any fees.
Tesla's self-driving in China
Beijing reportedly gave Tesla tentative approval to launch full self-driving—its assisted-driving service—in China after Musk made a surprise trip to the country in April.
A few weeks after the visit, state media reported that Musk had asked Beijing to let Tesla test its driver-assistance software in its robo-taxis, likely in the city of Shanghai, home to a Tesla gigafactory.
Tesla has since announced that it plans to launch full self-driving in China in the first quarter of 2025.
The U.S. car company’s sales of China-made EVs rose by 19.2% in September, compared to the same month a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.
