China has become the world’s most advanced hub for robotaxi development, with companies such as Baidu, Pony.ai, and WeRide leading large-scale commercial deployments. Baidu’s Apollo Go is the biggest player, operating 1,000 robotaxis across 15 cities and completing over a million rides in early 2025. Pony.ai and WeRide, both founded by former Baidu executives, are rapidly expanding too Pony.ai aims to build 1,000 new robotaxis this year, while WeRide is growing its fleet and launching services beyond China, including the Middle East’s first driverless taxis.
These companies benefit from China’s manufacturing strength, which drastically lowers hardware costs, including lidar and computing systems. Their vehicles are trained on the complex, crowded streets of major Chinese cities, giving them strong real-world adaptability. However, challenges remain: fragmented regulations, reliance on Nvidia chips, and the long path to profitability.
Tesla, meanwhile, has only launched a small pilot robotaxi program in Austin with a handful of modified Model Ys. While its vision-only approach is ambitious, Tesla is still far from operating fully driverless services at scale. As Chinese robotaxi firms expand globally, Tesla faces intense competition much like in the electric vehicle industry.