Automakers see bright future for robotaxis

Two Japanese automakers have both made driverless taxis the highlight of their booths at the China International Import Expo as the competition heats up for what is expected to be a big part of the automobile industry's future.

Nissan, which is at the CIIE for the sixth time, is displaying its pure electric Nissan Ariya driverless taxi.

At the CIIE back in 2022, Nissan China officially announced the establishment of Nissan Mobility Services Co and named it "e23 Go!" It's in technical cooperation with WeRide, a Chinese self-driving mobility service company founded in 2017 in Guangzhou.

Last March, Nissan began test operations in Suzhou, the test vehicle of which is the mass-produced pure electric vehicle, the Nissan Leaf.

"We have now completed two phases of demonstration operations in Suzhou," said Isao Sekiguchi, corporate vice president of Nissan Motor Co. "The model of the e23 Go! project has been upgraded from the Nissan Leaf in the first phase to the Nissan Ariya in the second phase. The overall performance has been enhanced."

"The intelligent route planning system we developed with our partners can optimize routes based on real-time road conditions and guide self-driving vehicles to choose the optimal route. I hope the system can be expanded to more cities in China to promote the construction of smart cities," Sekiguchi said.

Japanese automaker Toyota also had a driverless cab on display: the all-electric bZ4X robotaxi concept car.

Its strategic partner is Pony.ai, a Chinese company founded in 2016 that has expertise in the autonomous driving field.

At this year's Beijing Auto Expo, Pony.ai, Toyota China, and GAC Toyota announced the establishment of a joint venture. The companies are investing more than 1 billion yuan (US $139.6 million) in the venture to promote the mass production of self-driving mobility.

The bZ4X robotaxi is the first model launched by this joint venture company and also the seventh generation of Pony ai's robotaxi model.

Plans are in place to manufacture 1,000 units for testing in first-tier cities in 2025-2026 for fully unmanned robotaxi services, according to its website.

On October 25, WeRide was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the stock code "WRD."

Pony.ai also formally submitted an IPO prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on October 18 for listing on the NASDAQ with the stock code "PONY."

Toyota and Nissan have long been involved in autonomous driving.

Back in 2015, Toyota announced the launch of self-driving vehicles and road test plans by 2020.

Nissan cooperated with NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the field of autonomous driving in 2015, releasing models with rudimentary autonomous driving functions to the market.

However, slow advancement of autonomous driving of these companies are already in sharp contrast to the increasingly competitive and fast-paced market.

On October 11, Tesla's robotaxi model Cybercab was unveiled to the public. It has no steering wheel or pedals and will cost less than US$30,000 in the future, according to the company.

In recent years, Chinese companies have made significant progress in autonomous driving technology, which has led to a continuous improvement in the performance and safety of autonomous driving systems.

At the same time, the emergence of new technologies like 5G and V2X (Vehicle to Everything) Telematics has provided self-driving cars with more information interaction and faster decision-making capabilities.

China's self-driving industry was worth 79.2 billion yuan, up 32.4 percent year on year.