Massive surge! Seizing the "trillion-dollar opportunity"

【Introduction】Multiple publicly listed autonomous driving companies see revenue surges, vying for the “trillion-dollar opportunity” in the Robotaxi race

China Fund Reporter Qiu Dekun

The Robotaxi (driverless taxi) track has recently revealed key data.

Recently, Ridi Travel announced its financial report stating that by 2025, the company’s revenue will increase by 115% year-on-year to 5.29B yuan, with gross profit up 395.3% year-on-year to 628 million yuan. Official disclosures show that Ridi Travel’s Robotaxi vehicles expanded to 600 units by March 2026, covering Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and the Hengqin Guangdong-Macao Deep Cooperation Zone.

Ridi Travel is one of the key players in the Robotaxi track. This signals an acceleration in the commercialization of the Robotaxi industry, which is also confirmed by the latest financial reports of other Hong Kong-listed autonomous driving companies.

In 2025, Robotaxi business revenues for Xiaoma Zhixing and Wenyuan Zhixing grew by 129% and 210% respectively year-on-year. Han Xu, Chairman and CEO of Wenyuan Zhixing, stated at the earnings conference: “The commercialization of our Robotaxi technology is continuously advancing.”

Robotaxi is the first physical AI application to achieve true commercialization, and an important area for automakers like Tesla, GAC Group, and XPeng Motors to intensify efforts. Tesla CEO Elon Musk previously judged that the Robotaxi track is a “trillion-dollar-level opportunity.”

The Robotaxi industry enters its first year of large-scale commercialization

“The future of mobility services will inevitably be Robotaxi,” said Jiang Hua, CEO of Ridi Travel, in 2025, a view now confirmed by many listed autonomous driving companies.

In 2025, Ridi Travel’s mobility service revenue increased by 132% year-on-year to 5.1B yuan, with transaction volume up 116% to 6.43B yuan, mainly benefiting from accelerated scaling of Robotaxi operations, AI data services covering multiple scenarios, and commercial realization.

Xiaoma Zhixing’s Robotaxi business saw explosive growth in 2025, with revenue up 129% year-on-year to 116 million yuan, and passenger fare income nearly quadrupling.

Wenyuan Zhixing’s 2025 revenue grew by 90% year-on-year to 685 million yuan, with Robotaxi as a core business, accounting for 210% growth to 148 million yuan.

2025 marks the first year of large-scale commercialization for the Robotaxi industry. Senior executives of these companies stated at earnings calls that autonomous driving mobility services are shifting from pilot testing to operational deployment, entering a critical stage of scale and commercialization.

Taking Xiaoma Zhixing as an example, with the rapid mass production and commercialization of the seventh-generation Robotaxi, its fleet has exceeded 1,400 vehicles, surpassing the 2025 goal of building a fleet of 1,000 Robotaxis.

Industry insiders believe that to claim to be an L4-level autonomous driving or Robotaxi company, one must have substantial operational capabilities, including at least 50 driverless vehicles operating in a city with a population of millions.

In terms of technological investment, Ridi Travel continues to ramp up autonomous driving and Robotaxi operation services. Ridi Travel went public in Hong Kong in July 2024, planning to allocate 40% of the net proceeds to autonomous driving, with related investments in 2025 amounting to about HKD 135 million.

Ridi Travel is called the “First Hong Kong-listed Robotaxi Stock.” In July 2025, the company launched the “Robotaxi+” strategy, opening its operation platform to integrate ecological resources, helping solve early-stage development challenges and accelerating large-scale deployment.

Jiang Hua said that any company wavering or hesitating in betting on Robotaxi will soon fall behind, and this change can happen very quickly, possibly within just a few years.

Several ride-hailing platforms are following closely, accelerating their transition to Robotaxi in 2025. In February and December 2025, Cao Cao Mobility successively deployed and tested Robotaxi 1.0 and Robotaxi 2.0 solutions, with the current fleet exceeding 100 vehicles.

The industry enters a high-speed growth phase for Robotaxi

Latest research from Dongwu Securities predicts that China’s Robotaxi industry will reach a market inflection point in 2027, with market sizes of 83.1 billion yuan in 2030 and 709.6 billion yuan in 2035.

This means that autonomous driving companies must accelerate their business layout in 2026 to seize the opportunities in the Robotaxi track.

On March 19, Xiaoma Zhixing delivered over 100 new Robotaxi vehicles to Ridi Travel’s fleet, which will operate in Guangzhou through Ridi Travel’s fully open Robotaxi operation technology platform, offering mixed services of human-driven and driverless ride-hailing. After the new fleet joins, Ridi Travel’s Robotaxi fleet will total about 600 vehicles.

Meanwhile, Xiaoma Zhixing plans to triple its Robotaxi revenue in 2026 compared to 2025, and by the end of 2026, expand its fleet to over 3,000 vehicles, aiming to deploy Robotaxi services in more than 20 cities worldwide.

“By 2026, the company will fully enter a high-growth channel,” said Peng Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaoma Zhixing, at the earnings conference. Relying on full autonomous driving capabilities, policy support, mass production systems, operational experience, and mature ecosystems, the company is racing toward the Robotaxi track.

Wenyuan Zhixing’s goal is to deploy a fleet of 2,600 Robotaxis by the end of 2026 (subject to regulatory approval and market conditions). Han Xu said, “This is the starting phase of our plan to deploy tens of thousands of Robotaxis globally by 2030.”

2026 is the launch year for many autonomous driving companies’ long-term Robotaxi strategies. Jiang Hua said that whether large-scale commercial deployment can be achieved will determine whether industry players are qualified to continue in the Robotaxi track.

Ridi Travel’s “Robotaxi+” strategy plans to cover 100 core cities with Robotaxi operations within five years (from July 2025), increasing investment in fleet scale and operational infrastructure.

According to Ridi Travel, they plan to invest 1 billion yuan over the next five years to build a three-tier Robotaxi operation and maintenance network covering 100 core cities, forming an integrated capacity to support 100k Robotaxi vehicles online for maintenance annually.

In December 2025, Cao Cao Mobility announced close cooperation with Geely Holding Group and partners to accelerate the development of fully customized Robotaxi models, planning to deploy 100k units globally by 2030 for commercial operation.

The Robotaxi track welcomes many players

Unlike autonomous driving companies that have been deeply involved in the Robotaxi track for years, automakers like GAC Group, XPeng Motors, Tesla, as well as CATL, Ant Group, and Hello, are entering the field through joint efforts, intensifying industry competition into a “white-hot” stage.

Xiaopeng Motors Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said at the earnings conference that the company plans to start passenger demonstration operations of Robotaxi in the second half of 2026, to verify technology, customer acceptance, and commercial viability.

The issue is that Robotaxi is a highly complex system engineering business, requiring entrants to provide integrated solutions.

Peng Jun believes that the development of the Robotaxi industry depends on five pillars: technology, policy, mass production, operation, and ecological cooperation. These are interconnected, and resource investment alone cannot accelerate development.

In the process of scaling up and commercial deployment, Robotaxi technology is no longer the only decisive factor; scalable operational management capabilities are also essential.

Recently, Uber’s filings disclosed a 5.82% stake in Wenyuan Zhixing. As a leading global mobility platform, Uber’s experience in operating ride-hailing services worldwide and capacity management resources, combined with Wenyuan Zhixing’s fleet resources, will further accelerate overseas Robotaxi expansion and application.

The Robotaxi track requires players with “operational DNA.” Mobility tech companies like Uber and Ridi Travel, with multiple strategic layouts, are playing increasingly important roles in the Robotaxi field.

In China, Ridi Travel is one of the early movers in Robotaxi services, since 2022 adopting a “hybrid operation of manned and unmanned” as a core differentiation strategy, developing both driver-driven ride-hailing and Robotaxi services simultaneously.

Platform companies like Uber and Ridi Travel choose a “car manufacturer + autonomous driving company + mobility platform” tripartite cooperation model to deploy Robotaxi, and by opening their operation models to different technological streams, they can quickly expand fleets at lower costs and establish relative advantages early in industry development.

Industry insiders believe that during the large-scale deployment phase of Robotaxi, mobility platforms that control user and operational capabilities will attract more market attention than companies focusing solely on technological breakthroughs, highlighting the market value of operation-based barriers and advantages.