New robotaxi scorecard reveals China's dominance in autonomous driving
Autnmy AI has launched an index that ranks autonomous vehicle companies in real time, showing China's Baidu Apollo Go leading the robotaxi category ahead of Waymo.
A new benchmarking system developed by advisory and research startup Autnmy AI highlights China's strong position in the global robotaxi market. The Road to Autonomy Index updates every 12 hours by scanning public databases, including federal and state reports, SEC filings, and stock exchanges, to evaluate companies on operations, scale, revenue, commercial partnerships, manufacturing, and safety records.
As of Friday, Baidu Apollo Go narrowly surpassed Waymo as the top robotaxi operator, followed by Chinese firms Pony.ai and WeRide. Tesla ranked fifth. According to co-founder Rob Grant, the platform does not scrape the web but uses publicly available, Creative Commons licensed, or licensed data. The index covers robotaxis, autonomous driving licensing, autonomous trucks, and delivery bots.
Other industry developments include Gatik signing a multi-year partnership with PepsiCo, though the deal's value remains undisclosed. Stellantis, Wayve, and Uber agreed to jointly develop and deploy driverless robotaxis. Mobileye announced plans to become a robotaxi operator and launch a service in an unnamed U.S. city by 2027.
A Texas automated vehicle tracker shows increased fleets: Waymo registered 620 vehicles (up 7.5% since May), Tesla 69 (up 64%), and Zoox 43 (up 23%). Zoox cannot yet operate commercially as it awaits federal exemption. Waymo recalled nearly 4,000 robotaxis to prevent them from driving into highway construction zones, with a software fix still under development.
