Economic Watch: Chinese city launches robotaxi routes linking downtown, transportation hubs

by Xinhua writers Hong Zehua, Zhong Zhuo, and Ye Ting

GUANGZHOU, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- In the bustling downtown area of the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou, a robotaxi slowly pulled over amid the flow of traffic, its steering wheel turning automatically without a driver present. A passenger entered the taxi, tapped on the screen in front of the seat to confirm the ride, and the journey began.

On Friday, Pony.ai, an autonomous driving technology developer in China, launched four autonomous driving demonstration routes in Guangzhou. These routes connect the city's central business district with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and Guangzhou South Railway Station -- two of southern China's major transportation hubs.

According to Pony.ai, residents in Guangzhou can now order its robotaxi service via a mobile app. Operating hours are from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

"The city center has much busier traffic and denser vehicle flow. Additionally, routes linking the city center to transportation hubs often pass through expressways, where vehicles travel faster, placing higher demands on the perception, decision-making, and operational capabilities of autonomous driving technology," said Dai Dunfeng, head of public relations in China of Pony.ai.

Dai added that the launch of these four demonstration lines marks the company's successful entry into Guangzhou's core traffic hubs and downtown areas.

Baiyun airport ranked first in China for annual passenger throughput from 2020 to 2023. Meanwhile, the Guangzhou South Railway Station is one of the largest railway transportation hubs in the country in terms of passenger flow.

Based in Guangzhou, Pony.ai currently operates more than 250 robotaxis and over 190 robotrucks, with a total of nearly 40 million kilometers of autonomous driving road tests worldwide, including almost 4 million kilometers of fully driverless testing.

A recent report revealed that Guangzhou opened 791 smart connected vehicle testing roads last year. As of the end of 2024, 1,298 such testing roads and 10 high-speed test roads were operational.

By the end of 2024, Guangzhou has seen 16 companies complete over 1.24 million hours of autonomous driving testing, covering 22.97 million kilometers. Autonomous taxis, trucks, and logistics services are growing rapidly, with automated driving covering over 90 percent of the distance traveled.

"With the support of policies, we expect to expand our coverage in first-tier cities, launch more routes, and aim to deploy 1,000 autonomous taxis across the country over the next one to two years, in collaboration with our partners," Dai said.

The scale of robotaxi deployment in China is expected to reach 100,000 vehicles by 2030 -- when the robotaxi share of the overall travel market is set to be between about 10 percent and 20 percent, according to Pony.ai.

The value of China's self-driving taxi service industry is expected to reach 1.3 trillion yuan (about 180 billion U.S. dollars) by 2030, accounting for 60 percent of the country's ride-hailing market at that time, according to forecasts from global consultancy firm IHS Markit. ■