Robotaxi


A robotaxi, also known as robot taxi, robo-taxi, self-driving taxi or driverless taxi, is an autonomous car operated for a ridesharing company.
Robotaxis operated in an autonomous mobility on demand service could be one of the most rapidly adopted applications of autonomous cars at scale and a major mobility solution, especially in urban areas. They could have a positive impact on road safety, traffic congestion and parking. Robotaxis could also reduce urban pollution and energy consumption, since these services will most probably use electric cars and for most of the rides, less vehicle size and range is necessary compared to individually owned vehicles. The expected reduction in number of vehicles means less embodied energy; however energy consumption for redistribution of empty vehicles must be taken into account. Robotaxis would reduce operating costs by eliminating the need for a human driver, which might make it an affordable form of transportation and increase the popularity of transportation-as-a-service as opposed to individual car ownership.
Such developments could lead to job destruction and new challenges concerning operator liabilities. In 2023, some robotaxis caused congestion when they blocked roads due to lost cellular connectivity, and others failed to properly yield to emergency vehicles., there has been one fatality associated with a robotaxi, a pedestrian who was hit by an Uber test vehicle in 2018.
Predictions of the widespread and rapid introduction of robotaxis – by as early as 2018 – have not yet been realized. Several companies provide robotaxi services of varying degrees of automation in parts of the world. As of 2025, the number and scope of these services is rapidly expanding, but they still all operate at a financial loss.

Status

Services

Companies with active robotaxi services include Baidu, Pony.ai, Tesla, Waymo, WeRide and Zoox.

Vehicle costs

So far, all the trials have involved specially modified passenger cars with space for two or four passengers sitting in the back seats behind a partition. LIDAR, cameras and other sensors have been used on all vehicles. The cost of early vehicles was estimated in 2020 at up to US$400,000 due to custom manufacture and specialized sensors. However, the prices of some components such as LIDAR have fallen significantly. In January 2021, Waymo stated its costs were approximately $180,000 per vehicle, and its operating cost at $0.30 per mile, well below Uber and Lyft, but this excludes the cost of fleet technicians and customer support. Baidu announced in June 2021 it would start producing robotaxis for 500,000 yuan each. Tesla has discussed a sub-$25,000 Tesla Robotaxi, and as of 2023 was designing an assembly line that will accommodate the vehicle.

Passenger tests

Several companies are testing robotaxi services, especially in the United States and in China. All operate only in a geo-fenced area. Service areas for robotaxis, also known as the Objective Design Domain, are specially designated zones where robotaxis can provide service. As of April 2024, Baidu's had carried the most passengers, over 6 million. Other providers in China include AutoX, DiDi, Pony.ai, and WeRide, all operating in 10 or more cities. In the US, Waymo is the most prominent provider, operating in San Francisco, California, Phoenix, Arizona, and Los Angeles, California. A 2024 study of Waymo indicated an 85% reduction in injury crashes per mile driven.
Separate to these efforts have been trials of larger shared autonomous vehicles on fixed routes with designated stops, able to carry between 6 and 10 passengers. These shuttle buses have thus far operated at low speeds.

Current obstacles to robotaxis

At present, it is not only technical issues that hinder the widespread use of robotaxis, but also social issues. Consumers' concerns about the reliability and safety of self-driving taxis are an obstacle to broad acceptance. For example, system failures during the service process and the perception of the risks of an accident reduces the number of users. In addition, consumers have doubts about whether the robotaxi can cope with complex urban environments or severe weather conditions.

Licenses

In February 2018, Arizona granted Waymo a Transportation Network Company permit.
In February 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission issued Drivered Deployment permits to Cruise and Waymo to allow passenger service in autonomous vehicles with a safety driver present in the vehicle. These carriers must hold a valid California Department of Motor Vehicles Deployment permit and meet the requirements of the CPUC Drivered Deployment program. In June 2022, Cruise received approval to operate a commercial robotaxi service in San Francisco.
In April 2022, China gave Baidu and Pony.ai its first permits to deploy robotaxis without safety drivers on open roads within a 23 square mile area in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.
In August 2023, the CPUC approved granting additional operating authority for Cruise LLC and Waymo LLC to conduct commercial passenger service using vehicles without safety drivers in San Francisco. The approval includes the ability for both companies to charge fares for rides at any time of day. California subsequently enlarged Waymo's permitted operating area to specified San Francisco Bay Area localities, to airports and freeways in the area, and, in late 2025, to the entire Bay Area including the North and East Bay and, after securing an additional permit, to Sacramento, California.

History

First trials

On August 18, 2016, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick announced the company would be opening their autonomous taxi fleet to the public in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the next few weeks. In a race to be first, NuTonomy surprise-launched their robotaxi service a week later, though only to select members of the public through a closed-invitation and in a limited district in Singapore. Uber proceeded with their public launch in September of 2016, with customers being assigned human or autonomous cars interchangeably when requesting rides through the regular Uber app.
NuTonomy later signed three significant partnerships to develop its robotaxi service: with Grab, Uber’s rival in Southeast Asia, with Groupe PSA, which is supposed to provide the company with Peugeot 3008 SUVs and the last one with Lyft to launch a robotaxi service in Boston, Massachusetts.
In August 2017, Cruise Automation, a self-driving startup acquired by General Motors in 2016, launched the beta version of a robotaxi service for its employees in San Francisco using a fleet of 46 Chevrolet Bolt EVs.

Testing and revenue service timeline

Trials listed have a safety driver unless otherwise indicated. The commencement of a trial does not mean it is still active.
  • August 2016 – NuTonomy launched a closed-invite autonomous taxi service using a fleet of 6 modified Renault Zoes and Mitsubishi i-MiEVs, limited to operating within their office's district in Singapore. Human drivers were seated in the front for safety.
  • September 2016 – Uber launched its autonomous taxi service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with an initial fleet size of 14 vehicles, with a planned fleet of around 100 cars. This was open to the public through the regular Uber app, with customers being assigned human or autonomous cars interchangeably. Human drivers were seated in the front for safety. The autonomous area covered 31 square kilometers of the downtown core of Pittsburgh.
  • March 2017 – An Uber self-driving car was hit and flipped on its side by another vehicle that failed to yield. In October 2017, Uber started using only one safety driver.
  • April 2017 – Waymo started large scale robotaxi tests in a geo-fenced suburb of Phoenix, Arizona with a driver monitoring each vehicle. The service area was about. In November 2017, some driverless testing began. Commercial operations began in November 2019.
  • August 2017 – Cruise Automation launched the beta version robotaxi service for 250 employees in San Francisco using a fleet of 46 vehicles.
  • March 2018 – A woman attempting to cross a street in Tempe, Arizona at night was struck and killed by an Uber vehicle while the onboard safety driver was watching videos. Uber later restarted testing, but only during daylight hours and at slower speeds.
  • August 2018 – Yandex began a trial with two vehicles in Innopolis, Russia.
  • December 2018 – Waymo started a self-driving taxi service, dubbed Waymo One, for paying customers in Arizona.
  • April 2019 – Pony.ai launched a pilot system for employees and invited affiliates, serving pre-defined pickup points and covering in Guangzhou, China.
  • November 2019 – WeRide RoboTaxi began a pilot service with 20 vehicles in Guangzhou and Huangpu, China, over an area of.
  • November 2019 – Pony.ai started a three-month trial in Irvine, California with 10 cars and stops for pickup and drop off.
  • April 2020 – Baidu opened its trial of 45 vehicles in Changsha, China to public users for free trips, serving 100 designated spots on a set network. Services operated from 9:20 am to 4:40 pm with a safety-driver and a "navigator", allowing space for two passengers in the back.
  • June 2020 – DiDi robotaxi service began operation in Shanghai, China, in an area that covered Shanghai's Automobile Exhibition Center, the local business districts, subway stations and hotels in the downtown area.
  • August 2020 – Baidu began offering free trips, with app bookings, on its trial in Cangzhou, China, which served 55 designated spots over pre-defined routes.
  • December 2020 – AutoX launched a non-public trial of driverless robotaxis in Shenzhen, China, with 25 vehicles. The service was then opened to the public in January 2021.
  • February 2021 – Waymo One began limited robotaxi service in a number of suburbs of San Francisco for a selection of its own employees. In August 2021, the public was invited to apply to use the service with limited locations. A safety driver was present in each vehicle. The number of vehicles involved has not been disclosed.
  • May 2021 – Baidu commenced a commercial robotaxi service with ten Apollo Go vehicles in a area with eight pickup and drop-off stops, in Shougang Park in western Beijing, China.
  • July 2021 – Baidu opened a pilot program to the public in Guangzhou with a fleet of 30 sedans serving in the Huangpu district. 200 designated spots were served between 9:30 am and 11 pm every day.
  • July 2021 – DeepRoute.ai began a free-of-charge trial with 20 vehicles in downtown Shenzhen, serving 100 pickup and dropoff locations.
  • February 2022 – Cruise opened its driverless cars in San Francisco to the public.
  • February 2023 – Zoox, the self-driving startup owned by Amazon, carried passengers in its robotaxi for the first time in Foster City, California.
  • August 2023 – Waymo and Cruise were authorized by the US CPUC to collect fares for driverless rides in San Francisco.
  • December 2023 – China finalized regulations on commercial robotaxi operation. Roboshuttles or robotrucks were required to maintain in-car drivers. Robotaxis could use remote operators. The robotaxi to remote operator ratio could not exceed 3:1. Operators had to be certified. Accident reporting rules specified required data.
  • April 2024 – Baidu Apollo, AutoX, Pony.ai, DiDi and WeRide were each operating in 10 to 25 cities, with fleets of hundreds of robotaxis. Baidu Apollo had traveled over without a major accident.
  • July 2024 – In Wuhan, China, Baidu's attempts at commercializing Apollo Go robotaxis received massive attention from social media. Base fares started as low as 4 Chinese yuan, compared to 18 yuan for a human-driven taxi. The rapid adoption of driverless taxis rattled China's gig economy workforce. However, their popularity boosted Baidu's shares.
  • August 2024 – In most areas of Wuhan, Baidu’s Apollo Go robotaxis could now operate fully autonomously without safety personnel on board. The company recorded 899,000 rides in the second quarter of 2024, bringing the total number of rides to 7 million as of July 28, 2024.