Chinese Robotaxis Are Gunning for Global Domination
IEEE Spectrum - AI
Jul 15, 2025 15:00
Tony Peng
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airesearchieeetechnology
Summary
Chinese autonomous vehicle companies, such as Pony.ai and Baidu, argue that Tesla lags several years behind in deploying large-scale, fully autonomous robotaxi services, despite its recent pilot launch in Texas. The true benchmark for robotaxi success is commercial, public-facing operations at scale—a milestone only a few Chinese firms and Alphabet’s Waymo have achieved. This highlights China’s rapid progress and growing influence in the global AI-driven autonomous vehicle industry.
This post originally appeared on Recode China AI. When Tesla rolled out its much-anticipated pilot robotaxi service in Austin, Texas last month—a fleet of 10 to 20 Model Y SUVs with “robotaxi” stickers and minor modifications—the tech and automotive worlds paused in awe. But thousands of miles away, executives at China’s leading autonomous driving firms didn’t flinch. “Tesla isn’t even sitting at the (robotaxi) table yet,” Lou Tiancheng, CTO of Chinese autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai, remarked during an interview in May. Last year, Wang Yunpeng, head of the autonomous driving unit at Baidu, China’s search engine and AI giant, claimed Tesla was at least three to five years behind. The measure of robotaxi success isn’t flashy demos or tech-day reveals—it’s large-scale, commercial, fully autonomous public service. By that standard, Tesla remains far behind. Globally, only Alphabet’s Waymo and a handful of Chinese firms have overcome this barrier. Comparing robotaxi operations: Waymo le