China Launches Self-Driving Robo-Taxi Service Next Year

Xpeng, a Chinese electric vehicle startup, announced that it plans to launch a self-driving robo taxi service in the second half of next year.

Chai Xin, a Chinese economic media outlet, reported on the 25th (local time) that Chairman Hsu Xiaofeng is looking for a partner who will install an autonomous driving system in his electric vehicle and deploy the vehicle in the Chinese city.

Xiaofeng is working with many electric vehicle startups to enter the RoboTaxi service and has started testing in various Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen. Earlier this year, it released a smart driving system (XPILOT 3.0). Vehicles using driving assistance technology completed 11.98 million kilometers by the end of October, the company said.

Xiaofeng is drawing attention as one of China's top three electric vehicle startups along with Nio and LiAuto. It recorded sales of 5.7 billion yuan (about 1.62 trillion won) in the third quarter of this year, exceeding the market average. During this period, it sold a total of 25,666 sports utility vehicles (SUV) G3 and sedan model P7. This is 14% higher than the August forecast.

Meanwhile, at the 2021 Seoul Mobility Show held at KINTEX in Ilsan, Hyundai Motor (005380) announced that it will introduce a mobility pilot service based on level 4 fully autonomous driving technology in downtown Seoul in the first half of next year.

Date: 2021-11-08

Reporter: 신정훈