Recently, the attention surrounding autonomous taxis, or Robotaxis, has been high, but this is not a new phenomenon that has emerged in just the last one or two years. In China, several autonomous driving manufacturers, including RoboTaxi, have been deeply involved in strategic planning. Across the ocean in the United States, the country was ahead of China, issuing the first policy on autonomous driving grading, the "Autonomous Vehicle Policy," in 2013. This policy supported and encouraged the development of autonomous vehicles, making the U.S. the first country in the world to open autonomous driving operations and securing a favorable position in the global competition for autonomous driving.
Waymo, born out of Google, is one of the earliest companies in the U.S. to start the commercial operation of Robotaxis. It began autonomous driving tests in Phoenix in 2016 and launched the autonomous passenger service Waymo One in the city two years later. In March of this year, Waymo's expansion plan in San Francisco and Los Angeles was approved, adding over 1,200 square kilometers to its operational area.
With strong support from the U.S. government, in May of this year, Waymo announced that Waymo One currently completes more than 50,000 paid trips per week in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Additionally, in four cities, including Austin, it has provided over one million passenger trips. Waymo also announced that its sixth-generation Robotaxi is currently undergoing road testing.
Tesla, which has a closer relationship with the Chinese public, has also seen the huge business opportunities in this field and announced at the beginning of the year that it will release its own Robotaxi product in the second half of the year, entering the field of high-level autonomous driving. On the other hand, Tesla's Full-Self Driving (FSD) system, which is being developed, is growing rapidly. In March of this year, the FSD V12 version was tested in the United States. Previously, Musk was invited to visit China to discuss the implementation of Tesla's FSD in the country. Relevant sources revealed that Shanghai has already started a pilot for the implementation of FSD, and Musk directly stated on social media that FSD may soon be implemented in China.
Currently, Tesla has a global fleet of over 6 million vehicles, with more than 1.7 million in China, and the cumulative driving distance of FSD has reached 2 billion kilometers. After FSD enters China, it will obtain more high-quality real driving data, accelerate the iteration of the autonomous driving system, and further establish a competitive advantage.
In the process of the United States' autonomous driving companies, such as Waymo and Tesla, making great strides, they have also faced some obstacles, such as a San Francisco resistance group placing road barriers on the tops of autonomous vehicles (most of the sensors of unmanned vehicles are located on the top of the car), preventing the car from leaving.
However, the government still chooses to actively respond, continuing to support autonomous driving companies to expand operations while strengthening regulation. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has given full support to autonomous driving companies, officially approving the 24/7 commercial operation of Robotaxis in the entire San Francisco area in August 2023, setting a global precedent. Jeffrey Tumlin, Director of Transportation at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, also said, "We believe that autonomous vehicles are superior, and one day autonomous driving can be safer than human driving."
From the government to enterprises, the United States is sparing no effort in developing autonomous taxis, aiming at the high ground of AI development that is autonomous driving. This can be seen from the past competition between China and the United States at the L2 level of intelligent assisted driving. The United States is competing with China in various aspects such as technology research and development routes, market share, and road testing, and at the same time, the export ban on chips targeting China has also significantly affected the development of Chinese new energy vehicle companies such as Huawei and Xiaopeng.
Affected by generative AI, high-level autonomous driving is currently at a window period for large-scale technological and market outbreaks, and autonomous taxis are the next key battleground in the Sino-American technology competition.
However, in this field, the United States has an early layout in autonomous driving, and its advantages in the commercial landing process and policy support are more obvious. It can be said that 2024 will be a year of accelerated development for autonomous driving. Whether China can win in this technology will determine the global autonomous driving market pattern for a long period in the future and is also related to the process of China's automotive industry development and its competitiveness globally.To gain a competitive edge in the autonomous driving industry, it is essential to actively support the development of autonomous driving companies from aspects such as policies and regulations, market environment, and application scenarios, and to increase the deployment of autonomous vehicles. More vehicles on the road will help autonomous driving systems collect more and more real and effective driving data. Moreover, China's more complex road traffic environment will also help Chinese companies establish a scenario advantage by utilizing large-scale application testing and landing, thus gaining a first-mover advantage in global competition.