Autonomous 2026
Waymo may be the world's No. 1 in robotaxis, but right behind it are the Chinese companies with Apollo Go (Baidu), followed at a considerable distance by Pony.ai and WeRide. So Apollo Go also has
real vehicle fleets, passengers, and revenue.
2026 Waymo: 500,000 rides,
Apollo Go: 350,000 rides per week. |
Baidu was originally primarily China's search engine, but in light of emerging trends, it began exploring other business areas, not least of which was autonomous driving, starting as early as 2015.
That is how Apollo came into being in 2017 as a so-called 'open project'.
It was perhaps a clever attempt to save on development costs by bringing together automakers, suppliers, and research institutions on an open-source platform. This led to the creation of new
companies, including Apollo Robotaxi and Apollo Go, among others.
Following trial operations in 2019, the first public trials took place in Beijing and Changsha in 2020, though still with safety drivers, and then without in Wuhan and Chongqing in 2022. The areas
were strictly defined. In the U.S., they're more cautious; in China, they allow things earlier but monitor them strictly.
However, the United States also has statistics on accidents involving robotaxis, whether they were at fault or not. The Apollo RT6, a vehicle developed specifically as a robotaxi, has been in existence since 2022.
Soon there were over 1,000 vehicles and millions of rides, with plans also for Hong Kong, Europe, and Arab countries.
Apollo Go is also comparable to Waymo in terms of its concept. The system relies on a wide range of sensor technologies and high-precision maps. People here talk about basic ideas that were supposedly passed on by
engineers who came from the original Google Self-Driving Project.
Pony.ai was founded in 2016 by James Peng and Tiancheng Lou; Peng had previously worked at Google and then served as chief developer at Baidu, while Lou had also previously worked at Baidu. We can therefore
assume that the technical fundamentals are similar. Pony.ai is an independent startup, but it also has a fleet of over 1,700 vehicles.
Pony.ai is probably already further advanced in its international expansion than Apollo Go. Even more so than its competitors, the company relies on Toyota as a partner. It appears, however, that plug-in hybrids are on the
decline overall in robotaxis, and the Toyota bZ4X is now the vehicle of choice.
WeRide is even more international. Another person involved in the development of robotaxis at Baidu, Tony Han, founded this company in 2017. Here, the presence in Silicon Valley is still significantly
greater. It's interesting that the early stages of development began almost seamlessly as a government-subsidized operation.
WeRide cooperates with existing mobility platforms, such as Uber in the Middle East. At WeRide, the company's interests extend far beyond autonomous robotaxis to include minibuses
as well as municipal public transportation and delivery services.
They advertise the enormous number of approvals in eight different markets worldwide, Focus: the Middle East. In addition to the existing fleet of approximately 1,000 vehicles, there is reportedly an agreement with a Geely
subsidiary for 2,000 specially developed robotaxis.
It would be important for us Europeans to take note of the expansion efforts that are already underway, with a particular focus on Dubai and Riyadh. When it comes to this topic, we should focus much more on the Eastern
world than on the apparent rivalry between Waymo and Tesla.
Research with ChatGPT
| 
