We tried out a futuristic, self-driving robotaxi in China

From Batman to Transformers, self-driving cars have long captured the popular imagination.

And China, where the pervasive use of AI technologies extends from sorting rubbish to traffic control, is a natural testing ground for companies jostling to make this sci-fi fantasy a reality.

They are part of a global move towards autonomous vehicles, which are quickly becoming the world’s first major AI revolution. The sector has drawn billions of dollars of investment over the past few years, with the global autonomous vehicles market projected to be worth US$65.3 billion by 2027, according to a report by Market Research Future.

Photo credit: lightpoet / 123RF

Major US players such as Google, Tesla, and General Motors have jumped on board with projects trialing the technology, and Chinese firms are racing to catch up: more than 100,000 trips have already been taken on Alphabet’s Waymo One, its commercial self-driving ride-hailing service, since it was launched in Arizona, US last December.

In the white-hot competition between Chinese companies to push out robotaxis – self-driving taxis ordered through e-hailing services – two contenders have emerged as the first to launch public trials of their autonomous cab services in the country.

Search engine giant Baidu’s autonomous driving arm Apollo rolled out a trial operation of 45 robotaxis in September in Changsha, central China. The national AI champion aims to bring 100 robotaxis to the capital of Hunan province by the end of this year.

Smart automobility startup WeRide also opened test rides of its WeRide RoboTaxi service to the general public last Thursday in south China’s Guangzhou city. The service, first announced in August, is a joint venture between WeRide and Baiyun Taxi Group, the largest taxi company in south China.

With many still skeptical about how these robotaxi services will work in reality, I jumped at the chance to try out WeRide’s brand-new RoboTaxi service myself.

In Guangzhou’s Huangpu district, there are now dozens of robotaxis covering an area of about 145 sq km from 8 am to 10 pm.

Arriving in the city on a sunny Tuesday morning, I excitedly ordered my ride from the entrance of Xiangxue International Hotel Apartment to Guangzhou Science Town via an app called WeRide Go, which resembles other ride-hailing platforms such as Uber and Didi.

Five minutes later, a blue Nissan electric car with cameras, GPS locating devices, and other sensors attached to the top arrived. Like all so-called self-driving cars currently available, WeRide Go still requires a safety driver behind the wheel to take control of the car in case of an emergency.

The fact that human intervention is sometimes necessary is a roadblock that autonomous driving researchers, looking for a way to completely replace the need for human drivers, are facing worldwide. Waymo is the only company so far to have secured a full license for testing without a safety driver, although China’s AutoX applied to do the same in California this week.

The driver in my robotaxi was not allowed to talk with me as he had to maintain an intense focus on road conditions.