Gaode makes a high-profile entry into the Robotaxi scene.
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Author | Chai Xuchen
Editor | Wang Xiaojuan
Under the strategic focus of the entire Alibaba Group, AutoNavi is continuing to launch big moves.
On November 5th, AutoNavi announced a partnership with XPeng. XPeng’s Robotaxi will be integrated into the AutoNavi platform to jointly provide users with L4-level autonomous ride services. On the same day at XPeng Technology Day, XPeng Chairman He Xiaopeng announced plans to launch three L4-level Robotaxi models next year.
"A match made in heaven" is not just a strategic declaration; both parties immediately rolled out a timeline. He Xiaopeng stated that their Robotaxi will begin trial operations next year in multiple cities, including Guangzhou. AutoNavi CEO Guo Ning revealed even greater ambition—both parties will go overseas in the future, bringing Robotaxi services to the global market.
Clearly, AutoNavi and XPeng are determined this time to rapidly bring Robotaxi, that "future technology," into everyone’s daily life. Internally, AutoNavi may have already designated the Robotaxi business as a strategic-level business, and it may become the company’s new growth engine in the future.
It’s worth noting that when Robotaxi first appeared, many people simply regarded it as a technological showcase. Even a year ago, when Musk personally launched the Cybercab, most still saw it as a move to boost Tesla’s stock price.
But unlike previous "storytelling," Robotaxi is now quickly advancing towards large-scale commercialization. Besides Baidu’s "Apollo Go," more pragmatic industry giants are now joining the fray.
In September, Hello Chuxing, CATL, and Ant Group jointly launched the mass-produced, pre-installed Robotaxi HelloRobot1. They piloted 200 vehicles in Zhuzhou, Hunan, with plans to deploy tens of thousands by 2026. In October, Didi Autonomous Driving announced that its unmanned ride-hailing service had entered the demonstration application phase, aiming to roll out Robotaxi services in multiple regions by the end of next year.
Meanwhile, as Geely Group's core intelligent driving business, Qianli Technology officially disclosed its autonomous driving roadmap at the start of this month, planning to offer large-scale Robotaxi operation services in 10 global cities within the next 18 months, with more than 1,000 Robotaxis deployed per city.
The driving forces behind this are decreasing per-vehicle costs, loosening policies and regulations, breakthroughs in operation efficiency, and the beginning of scale effects and profit margins.
Currently, the costs of lidar, computing platforms, and domain controller chips have fallen significantly. According to Pony.ai’s IPO prospectus, their seventh-generation platform BOM cost is about 70% lower than the previous generation. The market expects the cost per vehicle to drop to around RMB 200,000. For reference, the early cost of a retrofitted Robotaxi was around RMB 450,000 per vehicle.
Meanwhile, the iteration of intelligent driving technology has also accelerated, driven by large AI models. Robotaxi stars like WeRide and Pony.ai have all mentioned that data reuse enables rapid expansion in different cities, bringing inter-city migration cycles down to a matter of weeks.
After several years of development, Robotaxi technology has become more and more mature, with growing support from cities. Since last year, many cities have expanded the pilot areas and operating hours for Robotaxi pilots. Shenzhen took the lead in issuing "citywide" driverless commercial operating licenses to certain companies.
When technology is no longer the sole moat, the dawn of commercialization gradually appears.
According to Goldman Sachs, China is considered a key engine for autonomous driving development due to its huge electric vehicle base, technological innovation, and policy support. It’s predicted that by 2030, there will be over 500,000 Robotaxi operating vehicles in China, and by 2035 the Chinese Robotaxi market will reach $47 billion.
It can be said that the Robotaxi financial model is about to become viable. However, the entire industry is struggling with high operational costs and the "supply-demand mismatch" challenge in commercialization.
According to Dongfang Securities’ estimates: Taking cities like Wuhan as an example, a Robotaxi generates about RMB 20,000 revenue monthly, with operational costs of about RMB 16,000. After deducting vehicle depreciation, insurance, and other fixed costs, the loss ratio is within 20%—already close to breaking even. If a vehicle runs over 10 hours a day, with fleet size above 500 cars and daily orders exceeding 5,000, it may be able to achieve positive cash flow.
Clearly, this places higher demands on the operational efficiency of Robotaxi companies.
Baidu, Didi, and others started exploring Robotaxi operations early but stuck to building their own channels. These companies have hundreds of millions of active users on the C-end internet market, and chose a closed model for ecosystem operation, attempting to seize the market with self-operated Robotaxi fleets.
Robotaxi players are about to face fierce competition from Baidu's "full-stack model," Didi's "self-operated + platform" model, and tech giants like Waymo. But not all Robotaxi players can build their own vertical empires like the former.
How to operate C-end services well has become the biggest challenge facing each Robotaxi company. At this pivotal moment, when the industry is in urgent need of a "disruptor," "outsider" AutoNavi Map made a high-profile entry, transforming itself into a Robotaxi aggregator ride-hailing platform.
In 2017, AutoNavi pioneered the aggregator ride-hailing model in the industry. Relying on openness, it became the largest aggregator ride-hailing platform in China. For the entire industry, AutoNavi, which "does not build cars," may represent the ideal "greatest common divisor" Robotaxi platform.
He Xiaopeng said bluntly, “Once we do a good job with Robotaxi operations, and through ecological cooperation, we’re not just talking about hundreds or thousands of Robotaxis—we expect tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions.”
On the other hand, AutoNavi has its own anxieties—once the overall operating cost of Robotaxi is lower than that of "human drivers," the existing mobility landscape will face restructuring. If other platforms with their own Robotaxi fleets (like Baidu, Didi, or Geely automakers) achieve scaled capacity, AutoNavi’s competitiveness will also be diluted.
It can be said that AutoNavi’s entry is also to secure its own "ticket" in the future mobility sector. Meanwhile, the user base it has accumulated over the years and resources covering more than 200 countries and regions worldwide may finally be monetized.
What’s more, AutoNavi is backed by the entire Alibaba ecosystem. AutoNavi’s Robotaxi platform will intersect with Cainiao’s unmanned delivery scenarios and Ele.me’s local life services to build a future urban transport network that covers both "people flow" and "goods flow."
Perhaps AutoNavi’s real ambition is to become the "Android" of the autonomous driving era—a "mobility operating system" that defines industry standards and connects billions of endpoints. And with the support of the Alibaba system, this new story may not be far from coming true.
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