Chinese robotaxi makers head to a welcoming Gulf as overseas ambitions grow

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - If you're a Chinese robotaxi company, the Gulf has become the place to be, attractive for a regulatory environment that is embracing the technology and robust demand for ride-hailing services. Their enthusiasm has been evident in a flurry of recently announced expansion plans. This week, Pony.ai became the third Chinese robotaxi company after rivals Baidu and WeRide to unveil an agreement with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority in the United Arab Emirates. It plans to start trialling its vehicles in the city this year with full driverless operations slated to start in 2026. WeRide also said this week it would be expanding into Saudi Arabia, where it has been testing its vehicles in cities like Riyadh, adding that it expects commercial services to start in late 2025.

That follows its launch of fully driverless robotaxi trials in the UAE's Abu Dhabi this month with commercial rides due to be rolled out from the end of June. It also soon plans to launch in Dubai. Baidu outlined plans in March to deploy "dozens" of robotaxis in partnership with UAE-based Autogo in Abu Dhabi with a goal to start commercial operations by 2026. It also aims to start trials in Dubai this year. The UAE "is relatively open but they are also careful and pragmatic on details," said Zhang Liang, a general manager in Baidu's autonomous driving unit Apollo, who oversees European and the Middle East markets.

"We are actually happy to see positive and active competition and we won't be afraid of such competition," he said at the World New Energy Vehicle Congress in Abu Dhabi last week. Worried about worsening traffic congestion and a shortage of taxi and ride-hailing services that largely rely on migrant workers for their drivers, Dubai has set a goal of having 25% of its daily transportation be smart and driverless by 2030. Abu Dhabi's target is 25% of total trips by 2040 while Saudi Arabia is aiming for 15% by 2030. "Middle East and this kind of market, they already have the infrastructure, they have the capital, they have the ambition, which is very important. So that's why everybody is queuing up here," said Thaha Muhammed Abdul Kareem, a Qatar-based independent consultant.

Both Pony.ai and WeRide have partnered with Uber in the region so their vehicles can be ordered through the Uber app. FUTURE US-CHINA BATTLEGROUND? The Gulf may become the region where Chinese and U.S. robotaxis go head to head for the first time. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a Gulf tour with U.S. President Donald Trump this month that he would take Cybercab robotaxis to Saudi Arabia, although he didn't mention a timeframe.

Story Continues At present, however, Waymo is the only U.S. firm to run uncrewed robotaxi services carrying paying passengers. Tesla plans to launch a trial in Austin, Texas by the end of June, aiming to scale up to about a thousand vehicles within a few months. Its Chinese rivals have more experience. Baidu's Zhang said the company was confident it could do well abroad, citing how its vehicles had completed 10 million trips in China as of March without a serious traffic accident.

The search engine giant has been running its Apollo Go robotaxi services commercially in several Chinese cities since 2022. The vehicles have so-called 4 autonomy - which means they are driverless but can travel only in certain areas. Those areas can, however, be quite large with the city of Wuhan, for example, making more than 3,000 km of public roads available for robotaxi use. "This year marks the first year for Apollo to go abroad officially," Zhang said. The company plans to make forays into Europe and Southeast Asia, he added without providing a timeframe.

Pony.ai, which has a fleet of 300 robotaxis in China, said long term it hopes to integrate its robotaxis with Dubai's metro and tram routes. Backed by Japan's Toyota, Pony.ai sees this year as its inaugural year for large-scale commercial deployment and aims to ramp up its fleet globally to thousands of vehicles in the next two years. It also has test permits in the United States, South Korea and Luxembourg. WeRide said it has begun "public operation" of its robotaxi GXR minivan in several Chinese cities as well as Zurich and Abu Dhabi. It partnered with Uber in May to expand into 15 cities in the next five years and says that in addition to the Middle East, Singapore, Japan and Europe face driver shortages in the transportation sector, making them key target markets.

(Reporting by Zhang Yan; Editing by Brenda Goh and Edwina Gibbs) View Comments