Dongfeng and Hello make big bets on Robotaxis

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In the current wave of accelerating "involution" in China's automotive industry, every cross-industry collaboration could signal a reshaping of the sector.

Recently, Dongfeng Motor's Venucia brand has entered into a strategic partnership with domestic mobility giant Hello, signing an order agreement for ten thousand Venucia VX6 vehicles. This is not just a simple alliance between a traditional car maker and an internet travel platform, but is seen in the industry as Dongfeng's strategic gamble to make a grand entry into the trillion-yuan-level Robotaxi track.

For a long time, competition in the Robotaxi field has mainly centered on tech companies represented by Baidu's "Apollo Go" and autonomous driving startups such as WeRide and Pony.ai. These pioneers have made significant progress in technology and operations, but commonly face challenges such as slow commercialization, high single-vehicle costs, and difficulties amortizing operational expenses.

This cooperation between Dongfeng and Hello introduces a new model: automakers provide large-scale, low-cost vehicle manufacturing, while internet platforms supply their deep expertise in users, data, and operational management.

According to Hello CEO Yang Lei, the cooperation with Dongfeng Venucia is progressing very quickly, and Venucia has already started pre-installation mass production lines. This model plans to achieve pre-installation mass production in 2026, covering more than 10 cities, launching at pioneering international scale, reaching ten thousand vehicles, and by 2027 deploying over 50,000 Robotaxi vehicles to the world.

The public is curious whether this strong partnership can, like the shared bike era, rapidly commercialize and popularize Robotaxi through massive deployment and precision operations, thus finding the "golden crossover point" of large-scale profitability?

Looking back, after a period of rapid growth, China's passenger car market has gradually entered the stage of stock competition. For long-established automakers like Dongfeng, seeking and cultivating a new growth curve has become a strategic imperative related to future survival.

In this cooperation, Venucia provides a mature electric vehicle platform—the Venucia VX6. This "intelligent pure electric SUV" is adapted for Robotaxi conversion needs, with spacious design for installing autonomous driving sensors as well as ample passenger room.

On the other side, Hello brings abundant scenario data and R&D capabilities, providing the L4-level Robotaxi solution HI-D (Halo Intelligence Drive), applying a "vehicle-road-cloud" integrated technical architecture, with computing platforms and sensor solutions meeting vehicle-grade standards.

In fact, Hello's entry is not just following trends, but based on years of accumulated core capabilities, aiming for an upgrade in their business model. Traditional Robotaxi players are mostly tech-based, while Hello boasts deep-rooted internet operation expertise.

The partnership gives the market plenty of imaginative space—their intention is to bring the "shared bike moment" to Robotaxi. Essentially, it is about rapidly occupying the market through massive deployment and using scale effects to minimize marginal costs. For Robotaxi to replicate this model, the key lies in solving high vehicle and operational costs, thereby achieving a self-consistent economic model.

Currently, the commercial prospects for Robotaxi are becoming increasingly clear, with the most direct evidence being the rapid drop in operating costs. Research shows that the operational cost per kilometer of autonomous taxis has dropped swiftly from 23 RMB in 2019 to 4.5 RMB in 2023. Industry consensus predicts that by 2026, this cost could fall further to 2.1 RMB, reaching a profitable "golden crossover point."

The rapid decline in costs stems mainly from two factors: First, the scaling and technological progress of hardware such as lidar and computing chips; second, improvements in operational efficiency. This trend suggests that profitability for Robotaxi is not out of reach, but requires large-scale commercial operations.

According to agency estimates, leading companies focusing on a single city and deploying large numbers of autonomous taxis—once the fleet surpasses 1,000 vehicles—might reach break-even in advance. Dongfeng and Hello's 10,000-vehicle Venucia VX6 order is a direct preparation for this "golden crossover point," providing a solid vehicular foundation for mass fleet deployment.

It can be said that the alliance between Dongfeng and Hello aims to deeply integrate the manufacturing strengths of legacy carmakers with the operational advantages of internet platforms, thereby seeking a path toward more cost-effective and scalable Robotaxi commercialization.

However, at the micro level, it still faces multiple challenges such as technological maturity, high costs, fierce competition, and regulatory uncertainties. The outcome of this gamble will depend on whether Dongfeng and Hello can strike a golden balance between technology, cost, and operations, and achieve mass deployment of tens of thousands of vehicles faster and more cheaply than their rivals.

Only when Robotaxi truly achieves large-scale, low-cost, and efficient operations, and gains widespread societal recognition, will the explosive Robotaxi moment truly arrive.

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