In a recent report, Jefferies estimated that China's robotaxi industry may reach 450 billion yuan ($63 billion) in the next six years, citing robust local company efforts, Beijing's supporting regulations, and the market's current momentum for electric vehicles.

According to Jefferies, numerous local governments—Wuhan foremost among them—have launched testing and trial programs in the self-driving business since the Chinese government unveiled explicit plans for the field in 2023.  

Analysts at Jefferies stated that China "has achieved initial success in the EV race with NEV penetration exceeding 50% in July, and is poised to seek the new growth engine in the smart driving realm." In the upcoming years, the nation is probably going to implement new policies that will help the industry.

According to the broking, robotaxies have seen a significant decrease in unit costs over the previous five years, and the industry has significant long-term profit potential.

Due to the industry's capital-intensive nature, entry barriers remained high, meaning that existing firms in the market were unlikely to encounter greater competition from new entrants.

With operations in 11 locations, Baidu Apollo is by far the largest robotaxi operator in the nation.

In an attempt to also get into both the Chinese and US markets, Tesla plans to introduce its first robotaxi in October.

(Sources: investing.com, reuters.com)