1. Who Gets a Seat at the Robotaxi Table?
On June 25, a single post by Lou Tiancheng, CTO of Pony.ai, lit up the Chinese autonomous driving world. "Only Waymo, Pony.ai, and Baidu deserve a seat at the table," he declared. "Everyone else is two and a half years behind." The statement caused an instant stir. WeRide's CFO Li Xuan quickly fired back: "If you want to be like WeRide, start by getting dozens of vehicles on the road."
This exchange revealed a fundamental split in the industry—between technological elitism and commercial pragmatism. One side emphasizes technical supremacy, prioritizing algorithms, safety redundancy, and engineering rigor. The other values speed to market, operational efficiency, and scaled deployment. The debate is no longer theoretical—these differing philosophies now underpin real business strategies.
Tesla has quietly started testing its Robotaxi service in Austin with a pilot fleet of ten vehicles, charging USD 4.20 per ride. Meanwhile, Chinese companies are shifting into full deployment mode. WeRide launched the Middle East's first fully autonomous Robotaxi fleet in Abu Dhabi. Baidu's Apollo Go is rapidly expanding in Singapore. Pony.ai is targeting mass commercialization in Dubai by 2026.
If 2024 was the year of preparation, then 2025 is the year of execution. Chinese Robotaxi firms have moved beyond preliminary testing and are now executing bold global expansion strategies.
Tesla Robotaxi（Source：Tesla Official website）
2. Global Landscape: China's "Learn-by-Doing" vs. America's "Cautious Advancement"
As the global Robotaxi industry enters a new phase of commercialization, leading mobility tech companies are intensifying strategic competition across multiple countries and regions.
2.1. A Tale of Two Models: "Aggressive Expansion" Meets "Measured Progress"
The United States established early leadership in autonomous driving, with Google launching its self-driving project in 2009 and founding Waymo in 2016. Yet in recent years, Chinese players have rapidly closed the gap. Since 2023, both Chinese and American companies have actively explored Robotaxi commercialization—but their approaches diverge dramatically.
The American Model: U.S. companies typically adopt a technology-first, risk-averse strategy. Firms like Waymo and Tesla prioritize technical maturity, emphasize extensive safety validation, and pursue commercialization at a deliberately cautious pace. As of 2025, Waymo operates in only four cities. Despite accumulating significant mileage, commercialization progress remains frustratingly slow. American firms continue to focus primarily on domestic markets, with limited ambition for overseas expansion—players like Zoox have yet to announce any clear international roadmap.
The Chinese Model: In stark contrast, Chinese companies favor a deployment-led, iterative approach. Operating with a strong "optimize-as-you-go" mindset, these firms rapidly gather real-world data through large-scale deployment, accelerating technological improvement in parallel. Apollo Go has already surpassed 11 million trips; WeRide aims to enter 15 new cities within the next five years. This operational scale is fueling faster evolution of both technologies and business models—creating an "operations-driven tech development" cycle that's gaining serious momentum.
According to Zhuang Jingqian, a Partner at Roland Berger:" China's leading Robotaxi firms offer globally competitive and mature technical solutions, backed by strong cost advantages. Their deep operational experience in complex urban conditions gives them an edge in adaptability and shortens the go-to-market timeline."
Looking ahead, the global Robotaxi industry is moving toward a multipolar landscape—led by China and the U.S., but shaped increasingly by localized breakthroughs and new market entrants. EqualOcean expects 2025–2026 to be a key window for commercial scale-up.
2.2. Financial Results Tell the Story: Robotaxi as a Growth Catalyst
In capital markets, numbers speak louder than narratives. A deep dive into the Q1 2025 financial disclosures from WeRide and Pony.ai provides an unvarnished look at the real progress of the Robotaxi industry.
WeRide reported total revenue of USD 10 million (approximately RMB 72.4 million), representing a modest year-over-year increase of 1.8%. Net losses narrowed to USD 53.1 million (RMB 385.1 million), improving by 17.73% from the same period last year. More importantly, the company's revenue composition underscores a clear strategic pivot toward Robotaxi operations. Revenue from Robotaxi services surged to USD 2.2 million (RMB 16.1 million), accounting for 22.3% of total revenue—a remarkable 153% jump from approximately USD 870,000 in Q1 2024.
Pony.ai offers an even more striking example. The company generated USD 13.98 million (RMB 102 million) in revenue, up 12% year-over-year, although net losses widened significantly to USD 37.4 million, a sharp 80.77% increase. Its business model reflects a clear "dual-engine" strategy: Robotaxi revenue climbed to USD 1.7 million, marking a 183% surge year-over-year, while the Robotruck business delivered USD 7.8 million, showing steady performance. These figures indicate that passenger-facing applications are scaling more rapidly—and generating more traction—than freight-centric models.
Despite persistent losses and macro-level growth headwinds, a common trend is evident across both companies: Robotaxi operations are gaining strong commercial momentum and emerging as a critical engine for future growth.
2.3. Big Tech's Advantage: Baidu's Backing Gives Apollo Go Resource Superiority
While Baidu's Apollo Go hasn't pursued independent public listing, its backing by tech giant Baidu provides natural resource advantages that smaller competitors simply cannot match. According to Baidu's Q1 2025 results, total group revenue reached RMB 32.54 billion, up 15% year-over-year, with the intelligent driving business performing exceptionally well. As a core component of Baidu's intelligent driving operations, Apollo Go provided over 1.4 million trips, up 75% year-over-year. By May 2025, cumulative public rides exceeded 11 million.
Baidu has validated a crucial market reality through substantial investment: Chinese consumer acceptance of Robotaxi has surpassed the critical tipping point. More importantly, Baidu's deep technological DNA provides confidence for Apollo Go's overseas expansion ambitions. The company's international strategy represents strategic extension based on large-scale operational experience—not experimental market testing.
3. Regional Expansion Strategies: Middle East, Europe, and Southeast Asia
Chinese Robotaxi companies' overseas expansion is forming a sophisticated "three-front strategy": Middle East beachhead establishment, European market assault, and Southeast Asian training operations. This multi-front approach reflects three distinct objectives for Chinese Robotaxi companies in international expansion:
In the Middle East, the goal is to capitalize on policy tailwinds and secure first-mover advantages.
In Europe, it's about breaking through high regulatory barriers to gain global credibility.
In Southeast Asia, companies are refining real-world deployment capabilities in complex and cost-efficient environments.
3.1. Middle East: Policy Dividend Harvest Ground
The Middle East presents a striking duality.
Geopolitical Volatility: Regional tensions continue escalating as Israel-Iran conflicts have intensified since March 2025, evolving from initial Gaza operations to Iran's "retaliatory" strikes in June, with bilateral military confrontations entering new phases. Regional security remains volatile, with international flights disrupted and insurance rates rising 15-25%. Corporate operations face unprecedented uncertainty that could derail expansion plans.
Technological Openness: Simultaneously, Gulf nations like UAE and Saudi Arabia demonstrate unprecedented technological openness. UAE issued the world's first national-level comprehensive autonomous driving license, while Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" provides USD 25,000 per vehicle subsidies. During this brief policy dividend window, first-movers have acted decisively:
WeRide completed the journey from receiving the UAE's first and only national license for self-driving vehicles (July 2023) to commercial Robotaxi operations (December 2024 with Uber) in Abu Dhabi in just 17 months. In April 2025, WeRide further expanded into Dubai, launching autonomous vehicle services in partnership with Uber. In June 2025, it signed an MoU with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) and Uber to commence pilot autonomous operations via the Uber app later this year; Pony.ai expects to deploy thousands of Robotaxis in Dubai. For these companies, this represents not just market competition but precise timing capture of a fleeting opportunity.
3.2. Europe: The High Ground of Regulatory Standards
Unlike the Middle East, Europe's challenge lies not in volatility but in complexity.
The EU leads global AI regulation, with its General Data Protection Regulation establishing the world's strictest data collection standards. The EU's AI Act, which began phased implementation last year, imposes stringent requirements on high-risk AI applications, creating regulatory barriers that many companies simply cannot overcome. However, precisely because these barriers are so high, breakthrough significance is correspondingly greater—whoever establishes European footholds gains opportunities to shape global standards and influence regulatory frameworks worldwide.
WeRide strategically enters the European market through scenario-specific deployments of its Robobus technology. At Zurich Airport, WeRide partnered with Flughafen Zürich AG to pilot autonomous shuttle services, and in Switzerland, it collaborated with the Swiss Transit Lab and Swiss national railway Schweizerische Bundesbahnen in a government-funded project. Currently, two AVs equipped with WeRide technology are operating in Switzerland, with plans to expand to four fully unmanned vehicles running for up to five years. In 2026, WeRide plans to add eight more vehicles, bringing the total fleet to twelve.
3.3. Southeast Asia: Practical Capability Proving Ground
Southeast Asia's complex traffic patterns and diverse policy ecosystems provide ideal practical training environments for Robotaxi companies seeking to strengthen their operational capabilities.
Mixed motorcycles, cars, pedestrians, and three-wheelers create operational complexity far exceeding China's tier-one cities, forcing companies to strengthen their autonomous driving systems' robustness under real-world conditions. Different countries' policy positions also provide differentiated deployment pathways for companies. This explains why Apollo Go strategically entered Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore amended its Road Traffic Act in 2017 to allow autonomous driving testing, and by 2022 opened 1,000 kilometers of roads island-wide for unmanned deployment. Its regulatory framework maturity is globally rare. More significantly, in Singapore's government-promoted "National AI Strategy," smart mobility represents a core component, providing natural deployment scenarios for Apollo Go. Malaysia's entry reveals more pragmatic considerations—traffic congestion in cities like Kuala Lumpur, combined with relatively relaxed regulatory environments, creates ideal testing grounds for technological implementation and refinement.
4. Diverse Cooperation Models for Chinese Robotaxi Overseas Expansion
As Robotaxi overseas expansion accelerates, Chinese autonomous driving companies no longer rely on single cooperation models in international deployments. Instead, they flexibly combine multiple cooperation approaches based on target markets' regulatory environments, commercial ecosystems, and technology acceptance levels to maximize implementation efficiency and minimize trial-and-error costs. Different companies develop distinctive "integrated cooperation pathways" based on their unique capabilities and strategic priorities.
4.1. Government-Led + Platform Collaboration
WeRide exemplifies the "government-led + platform collaboration" integrated model. In the UAE, it achieved national-level government cooperation, securing pure autonomous driving operation licenses while integrating with local mobility systems through Uber platform connectivity, creating complete closed loops from licensing and scenarios to user traffic.
In Switzerland and France, WeRide employs government-enterprise interfacing and scenario customization approaches, deploying airport shuttles and small bus services while gradually building overseas service networks. Its international logic emphasizes high-level interfacing plus middle-and-back-office collaboration, penetrating core scenarios through national projects, then completing market transformation through platform resources.
4.2. Capital Empowerment + Platform Authorization + Policy Coordination
Pony.ai demonstrates a "capital empowerment + platform authorization + policy coordination" compound strategy. The company received investment from Saudi Arabia's NEOM and its investment fund NIF, providing funding and policy guarantees for Middle East market expansion. Technical licensing cooperation with Uber provides standardized output capabilities for quick integration into different countries' platform ecosystems.
In South Korea and Luxembourg, Pony.ai actively pursues joint pilots with local governments and technology parks. Its overseas approach leans toward "modular replication" thinking, relying on funding, branding, and interface standards for cross-regional deployment.
4.3. Light Asset Operation + Local Partnerships
Baidu's Apollo Go adopts a "light asset operation + local partnerships" strategy with enhanced adaptability to complex markets. In Singapore and Malaysia, Apollo Go cooperates with local companies and city management to establish joint operation systems, emphasizing local human resources, policy interfaces, and resource coordination. While maintaining core control over technology and fleet standards, it minimizes upfront investment and operational costs.
5. Conclusion
Robotaxi services are moving beyond the lab and into daily life. As a new type of public transportation that could eventually replace traditional taxi drivers, their global rollout is not just about showing off technology. It's a real test of whether companies can adapt to local policies, customize their products for different markets, and build business models that last.
Chinese Robotaxi companies are already ahead in areas like algorithm design, keeping costs low, and getting things to work in real-world conditions. Some have started pilot programs overseas and gained early experience. But the journey isn't easy. These companies face major challenges—like navigating international data rules, dealing with public concerns about job loss, and earning trust from local users. In fact, it's not just about how good the tech is. In many places, people care more about how Robotaxi will impact jobs than how well it drives.
Globally, Robotaxi is more than just a cool innovation—it's changing how cities move and how people work. For Chinese tech firms, expanding overseas is not just a growth strategy—it's a chance to show the world what China's smart transportation industry can really do.