Robotaxis to rev up after successful trials

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the size of the global robotaxi fleet will reach 10,000 this year and 500,000 in 2025.

Autonomous driving has gained traction and investment since the COVID-19 outbreak as investors have become more cautious about investing in other industries amid the contagion.

The sector has been seeing a flurry of major deals like the autonomous driving unit of Didi Chuxing getting $300 million in investment from Japan's SoftBank. Another autonomous driving firm, Pony.ai, finished a new round of funding totaling $462 million.

Wu Gansha, CEO of Chinese self-driving start-up Uisee, believes the sector is now ready for a takeoff. "Investors are more confident on the commercialization of intelligent driving and hence willing to invest. From this year, we should start seeing large-scale commercialization of driverless vehicles," Wu said.

"We have been seeing a healthy pickup in orders," said Wu, whose start-up focuses on high-level autonomous driving and completed a new round of financing in February.

During the outbreak, several hospitals and companies used self-driving vehicles to deliver necessities like masks and meals to patients and medical workers.

Earlier this year, China unveiled a blueprint to boost autonomous driving in the country. According to the blueprint, the country will realize "scale production of vehicles capable of conditional autonomous driving and commercialization of high-level autonomous vehicles in certain scenarios by 2025".

"Smart vehicles have become a global strategy and China has a strategic edge in developing smart cars with the complete automobile industry and evolving information technology," the document said.

In March, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched classification standards for autonomous driving in China, which has helped speed up the country's autonomous driving industry.

According to the latest report from global management consulting firm McKinsey& Co, China will become the world's largest market for autonomous vehicles, with revenue from sales of such new cars and mobility services expected to exceed $500 billion by 2030.

It predicted that by 2030, the total sales volume of autonomous vehicles is expected to hit $230 billion and autonomous vehicle-based services will generate a gross booking of around $260 billion.

Chinese consumers surveyed have shown their willingness to pay as much as an extra $4,600 as a premium to purchase autonomous vehicles, while customers from the US and Germany are willing to pay an extra $3,900 and $2,900, respectively, it said.

However, Yang Xu, a life and services analyst at consultancy Analysys, pointed out that the commercialization of autonomous delivery remains a long way off and still faces some challenges ahead.

Before this can be achieved, a number of problems including complicated road conditions, technological bottlenecks, operating costs and supervision need to be dealt with, Yang said.